Rising nonmarital first childbearing among college-educated women: Evidence from three national studies

Levels of nonmarital first childbearing are assessed using recent administrations of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 Cohort; the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health; and the National Survey of Family Growth. Results confirm that the higher a woman’s educational attainment, the less likely she is to be unmarried at the time of her first birth. A comparison over time shows increases in nonmarital first childbearing at every educational level, with the largest percentage increase occurring among women with college degrees at the BA or BS level or higher. This article projects that 18 to 27% of college-educated women now in their thirties who have a first birth will be unmarried at the time. In addition, among all women who are unmarried at first birth, women with college degrees are more likely to be married at the time of their second birth, and, in a majority of cases, the other parent of the two children was the same person. A growing proportion of well-educated women, and their partners, may therefore be pursuing a family formation strategy that proceeds directly to a first birth, and then proceeds, at a later point, to marriage, followed by a second birth. Possible reasons for the increase in nonmarital first births among the college-educated include the stagnation of the college wage premium; the rise in student debt; decreasing selectivity; and the growing acceptability of childbearing within cohabiting unions, which have become a common setting for nonmarital childbearing, and among single parents.

From an Alternative to a Precarious Family Form? The Changing Role of Education in Nonmarital Childbearing in Germany

This paper examines the association of education and family forms based on data of the German microcensus 1996–2012. The investigation shows that highly educated women in western Germany had a higher probability of living in a nonmarital instead of a marital union. With an increase in the share of nonmarital births, the association has reversed. Likewise, the highly educated couples were initially the vanguards of living in nonmarital unions with children, but they are nowadays the least likely to do so. Patterns differ between eastern and western Germany, though.

Social Mobility in an Era of Family Instability and Complexity

Families play a central role in the study of social mobility—they are units of analysis for measuring social class as well as settings that shape the intergenerational transmission of resources. The American family has undergone important changes since the mid-twentieth century. Divorce, nonmarital childbearing, and cohabitation increased dramatically. The rise in divorce and cohabitation made the family a less stable unit of socialization and led to a proliferation of step and blended family arrangements with complex configurations of residential and biological ties. As a result of these changes, less than half of children spend their entire childhood in an intact, two-biological parent household, and families are no longer defined solely by shared residence or biology. The instability and complexity of family life requires stratification scholars to rethink how they measure origin and destination class and to consider how parents in nontraditional families transmit class-specific resources to the next generation.

Lone mothers and their network support: Sociodemographic research of nonmarital parenthood in Serbia

The aim of this paper is to identify and describe the difficulties faced by families with nonmarital children (especially single-parent), available help and support, participation of the father in raising a child, and expected institutional help. That represents a first step toward better understanding of these families. The paper presents part of the results of research carried out in Belgrade with the aim of insight into the phenomenon of nonmarital childbearing at the individual level. It was conducted on a sample of 100 respondents, mothers of nonmarital children, who attend preschool. The survey was anonymous, carried out by the interview method. For this purpose a questionnaire with more than 50 questions was made, standardized to a great extent. In this paper, the focus is on the hardships and needs of the group of lone mothers. Though some issues take into account the answers of all respondents (21 cohabited mothers and 79 lone mothers), the analysis is largely related to the experiences and reflections of lone mothers. The 2011 Census data on prevalence of consensual unions and characteristics of persons living in them, as well as earlier data on the acknowledgment of paternity, do not indicate that nonmarital childbearing in Serbia takes place primarily in stable unions. It is realistic to assume that a large percentage of mothers with nonmarital children are lone mothers. The research results are generally consistent with the findings of relevant studies from our and foreign countries. As the largest difficulties, lone mothers emphasize financial problems, unemployment, housing difficulties, and child care, as well as a pronounced feeling of loneliness. Most of them in solving problems and rising children rely on their parents and siblings, with whom they often live in the same household. Every fifth lone mother when faced with a major problem, and every ninth in everyday raising a child can count on the father of the child. About a third of the children have no contact with their father, and as many fathers do not make any financial contribution. Actually, insufficient presence and participation of the father, in the lives of children and in daily performing parental responsibilities of their mothers, is one of the most important aspects that deserve the attention of researchers and policy-makers when it comes to lone mothers with unmarital children. The realization of children's rights in relation to financing and visitation the fathers after parental separation, is far more difficult than in divorced or widowed single-parent families. Some considerations about measures of state and local community support can be based on the selected research results presented in this paper. Support measures are possible in multiple domains, social policy (financial support and assistance in employment), institutions of preschool education, as well as in health, education, pre-school and social system counseling services. Greater involvement of men in family life and parenthood stands out as a very important objective, as well as motivation of fathers to involve in raising their nonresident children, including financial support. Three-quarters of the total number of respondents expect the state support to lone unmarried mothers. Three-quarters of lone mothers and one third of cohabited mothers expressed the need for state assistance in solving their own most important existential issues.