1

Demographic Programs

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

U S C E N S U S B U R E A U

Helping You Make Informed Decisions

U.S. Department of Commerce

Economics and Statistics Administration

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

P23-197

Trends in Premarital Childbearing

Special Studies

1930 to

Issued 

1994

October 1999

Current

Population

Reports

By Amara Bachu

Introduction historical data on how quickly women

marry after having an out-of-wedlock birth

One of the most closely watched indicators and identifies the characteristics associated

of fertility over the past 30 years is the with the likelihood of premaritally pregnant

proportion of births occurring outside of women marrying before the birth of their

marriage. Postponement of marriages first child. First births were chosen for

among never-married women in pursuit of analysis as their timing often sets the

higher education and career development, tempo of future childbearing in terms of

along with increasing numbers of cohabiting relationships, have exposed women to Definitions and Data greater risk of premaritally conceived

births than in earlier years. Restrictions

Three categories of births are identified Premarital childbearing among women has in this report: (1) premarital births— been on the rise not only among teenage births occurring to women before the women but also among older women for mother’s first marriage, (2) premaritally the last two decades, only recently leveling conceived births—births occurring off in the mid-1990s1. As a result, the within 7 months after the mother’s first

issue of premarital childbearing among marriage; (3) and post-maritally con- women of all ages has gained prominence ceived births—births occurring 8 or as a national concern not unique to teenag- more months after the mother’s first

ers. Over the past decades, being unmar- marriage. Even though premarital births ried and having a baby has undergone are also premaritally conceived births, changing levels of acceptance by various they are excluded from the second social institutions, such as families, category which designates those births schools, and public and private organiza- occurring to women while married. tions. Prenatal and postnatal classes Pregnancy outcomes in this paper refer offered to teenage women in schools and only to those conceptions ending in the availability of federal welfare programs live births. Information on conceptions such as the “Special Supplemental Food ending in stillbirths, miscarriages, Program for Women, Infants, and Children” or abortions are not available from

which benefit many unwed pregnant these surveys. women are a few examples of concerns

over out-of-wedlock childbearing and Fertility and marital data used to conefforts to look at the issue from the struct these indicators were obtained for

viewpoint of mothers’ and their children’s all women 15 to 99 years old in 1980

health and well being. but were collected only for women 15 to

65 years old in the 1995 survey. In This report examines trends from 1930 to order to avoid significant omissions in 1994 in the marital status of U.S. women this analysis of older women through at the time of their first birth. It presents mortality or age restrictions in the

different surveys, the data were generally limited to first births occurring after 1 S.J. Ventura, J.A. Martin, S.C. Curtin and T.J. Mathews. 1930 and to women having their first Report of Final Natality Statistics, 1996, Monthly Vital

Statistics Report, 46:11, Table 18. Hyattsville, Md: birth under age 30.

National Center for Health Statistics, 1998.
2 U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

Table 1.

Marital Status of Women 15 to 29 Years Old at First Birth, by Race and

Hispanic Origin: 1930-34 to 1990-1994

Percent of

premaritally Percent of first births

pregnant women

Number Premaritally Post-maritally marrying before

of first births Premarital conceived conceived the birth of their

Period of first birth (In thousands) birth birth birth first child1

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

ALL WOMEN

1990-94 6,324 40.5 12.3 47.2 23.3

1985-89 6,364 32.7 10.7 56.5 24.7

1980-84 6,842 29.6 12.3 58.1 29.4

1975-79 6,626 25.7 12.0 62.2 31.8

1970-74 6,438 18.0 17.1 64.8 48.7

1965-69 5,929 15.1 18.0 66.9 54.4

1960-64 5,507 10.3 15.5 74.3 60.0

1955-59 5,173 10.0 10.9 79.1 52.3

1950-54 5,004 7.9 9.3 82.8 53.9

1945-49 4,971 7.6 7.9 84.6 50.9

1940-44 3,982 7.0 7.5 85.5 51.8

1935-39 3,036 8.5 9.0 82.6 51.4

1930-34 2,279 8.2 9.5 82.2 53.6

RACE

White

1990-94 4,994 32.4 12.9 54.6 28.5

1985-89 5,089 24.6 12.0 63.4 32.8

1980-84 5,33221.3 13.7 65.0 39.1

1975-79 5,440 18.3 12.9 68.9 40.1

1970-74 5,376 11.1 17.6 71.4 61.3

1965-69 5,001 8.8 18.0 73.267.1

1960-64 4,774 6.8 14.279.0 67.6

1955-59 4,494 6.0 10.4 83.6 63.4

1950-54 4,419 5.0 8.6 86.5 63.4

1945-49 4,473 5.1 6.7 88.256.6

1940-44 3,592 5.0 6.3 88.6 55.9

1935-39 2,748 5.6 8.7 85.7 60.6

1930-34 2,037 5.9 9.2 84.9 61.0

Black

1990-94 1,016 76.9 8.7 14.4 10.2

1985-89 1,007 73.3 4.9 21.8 6.3

1980-84 1,07271.2 5.6 23.2 7.3

1975-79 981 67.4 6.5 26.1 8.8

1970-74 905 59.0 14.5 26.5 19.7

1965-69 815 53.6 18.4 28.0 25.6

1960-64 635 36.1 24.1 39.8 40.1

1955-59 587 40.9 16.0 43.1 28.1

1950-54 516 32.6 14.0 53.5 30.0

1945-49 428 32.2 18.9 48.8 37.0

1940-44 34227.5 19.0 53.5 40.9

1935-39 261 37.9 11.9 50.2 23.8

1930-34 216 31.0 11.6 57.4 27.2

HISPANIC ORIGIN2

Hispanic

 1990-94 957 40.214.2 45.6 26.1

 1985-89 724 36.0 12.0 52.0 25.0

 1980-84 63236.7 9.8 53.5 21.1

 1975-79 589 32.6 12.2 55.2 27.2

 1970-74 44229.6 16.1 54.3 35.2

 1965-69 293 17.9 10.6 71.5 37.2

Non-Hispanic

 1990-94 5,367 40.5 11.9 47.5 22.7

 1985-89 5,640 32.3 10.6 57.1 24.7

 1980-84 6,210 28.9 12.6 58.5 30.4

 1975-79 6,037 25.1 12.0 62.9 32.3

 1970-74 6,055 19.5 14.9 65.6 43.3

 1965-69 5,214 17.2 16.9 65.9 49.6

Note: Data for 1975-79 to 1990-94 are based on the June 1995 Current Population Survey and are shown for

first births to women residing in the United States at the time of their first child’s birth. Data for 1930-34 to

1970-74, are based on the June 1980 Current Population Survey, and are for all women regardless of their place

of residence at the time of the first birth. Data for Hispanics are from the June 1995 CPS and are for first births

to women residing in the United States at the time of their child’s birth.

1 Column 5=[column 3/(column 2+ column 3)]*100

2 People of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau , June 1980 and 1995, Current Population Surveys.

numbers of children eventually

born. It also signals a fundamental

change from nonparent to parent

roles and determines much of the

social and health circumstances

that both mother and child experience for many years, especially

among teenage women.

Today, first births constitute almost

6 out of 10 births to women under

age 24; regardless of the birth

order of the child, a similar proportion of all births to women this age

are also born out-of-wedlock.2

Three categories of births are

used in this report: (1) premarital,

(2) premaritally conceived and

(3) post-maritally conceived births.

Data to produce the historical

series on premarital childbearing

from the 1930s to the present were

obtained from fertility and marital

history supplements to the June

1980 and 1995 Current Population

Survey (CPS)3. The month and year

of births and marital events from

these surveys were used to develop the estimates of whether

first births occurred before or after

first marriage.4

2 S.J. Ventura, S.C. Curtin and T.J. Mathews.

Teenage Births in the United States: National

and State Trends, 1990-96, National Vital Statistics System. Hyattsville, Md: National Center for Health Statistics, 1998.

3 Since these data are from surveys, they may

not accurately reflect past fertility events occurring decades before the interview date

due to the respondent’s inability to recall

events and the subsequent mortality and migration of women after a birth has occurred.

These data only reflect the experiences of

women who are living at the time of the survey. To the extent that the experiences of the

deceased or migrants who left the United

States are different from the surveyed population, the estimates are biased. In addition,

women who are still in their childbearing

years also have incomplete marital histories

which would affect the analysis of estimates

of eventual marriages to women with out-ofwedlock first births which would occur after

the date of the survey.

4 To avoid misreading fertility trends because

of the inclusion of births to immigrant

women which occurred when they lived outside of the United States, first birth data from

the June 1995 CPS in this report were limited

to women who were living in the United

States at the time of their child’s birth. See

M. O’Connell and L. Miller, “Whose Vital

Events are They? The Effect of Immigration on

the Estimation of Fertility and Marital History

from Retrospective Survey,” Journal of Economic and Social Measurement,

20(1994):137-158.
U.S. CENSUS BUREAU 3

Premarital childbearing Figure 1 clearly shows the changsince the 1930s ing family circumstances experienced by first-born children in One in six first births to women the United States since the

15 to 29 years old in 1930-34 was 1930s. During the Great Depres- either premaritally born or con- sion, most of these first-born ceived.5 This proportion increased children were conceived post- to one in two births in 1990-94 maritally (about 82 percent) (Table 1). The principal component compared to 47 percent of first of the increase in this proportion births in the 1990s.

was the increase in the proportion

of premarital births. In the early What do these statistics tell us

1930s, the proportion of births about the changing likelihood that which were either premaritally born premaritally pregnant women will or premaritally conceived births marry before the birth of their first were not significantly different child? The last column in Table 1

from each other. A sharp increase tracks the propensity of couples to in the proportion of first births marry before the birth of a born premaritally occurred between premaritally conceived child. It the early 1930s and the early shows that between the 1930s

1990s (8 percent to 41 percent). and 1960s, about 50 percent to A comparatively smaller increase 60 percent of women with a in the premaritally conceived premaritally conceived birth component (from 10 percent to married before their child was

12 percent) was recorded for this born. Because some cohabiting entire period. couples may have planned to

marry even before the child was

5 The statistics shown for 5-year periods in conceived, not all of these marthis report represent the average for the en- riages were “forced or hurried” by a tire specified period. For example, the proportion for the period 1930-34 includes all premarital conception.

calendar years from 1930 through 1934.

A major decline in this statistic

occurred between 1960-64 and

1980-84— a period of great social

change among young people in

the United States. During this

period, the availability of very

effective birth control measures

increased, educational attainment

improved, and the abortion laws

were relaxed.6 Despite these

changes which one would associate with declines in out-of-wedlock

childbearing, these decades were

also characterized by delays in first

marriage and increases in the

sexual activity of single women,

especially teenagers.7

Over this 20-year period, the

proportion of premaritally pregnant

women marrying before the child’s

birth fell by half from 60 percent in

the early 1960s to 29 percent in

the early 1980s. Declines in the

propensity to marry to avoid an

out-of-wedlock birth by this

generation of women may also

reflect the questionable stability

of a forced marriage, especially if

the father of the child may not

be able to maintain the family

after the marriage. The declines

noted in the proportion of women

marrying before the birth of their

premaritally conceived child may

also reflect the opinion of some

women that they may be better off

in the long run by relying more on

the support of their parents and

relatives for financial and emotional assistance than by entering a

6 Current estimates prepared by Alan

Guttmacher Institute indicate that about onehalf of abortions obtained by women 15 to

44 years old in 1994-95 were to unmarried

women. It is not known, however, what proportion of unmarried women having an abortion would have married before their child’s

birth in the absence of legal provisions for

an abortion. See S. Henshaw and K. Kost,

“Abortion Patients in 1994-95: Characteristics and Contraceptive Use,” Family Planning

Perspectives, 28(1996): 140-147.

7 U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports, Series P-20, No. 450, Marital Status

and Living Arrangements: March 1990, U.S.

Government Printing Office, Washington, DC,

1991, Table B; S. L. Hofferth, J. R. Kahn and

W. Baldwin. “Premarital Sexual Activity

Among U.S. Teenage Women Over the Past

Three Decades,” Family Planning Perspectives, 19(1987):46-53.

0

20

40

60

80

100

Figure 1.

Marital Status of Women 15 to 29 

Years Old at First Birth: 1930-34 

to 1990-94

(Percent)

70 13

7 9

41 20

15

24

67 15

8

11

63 14

9

53 18 13

12 17

56 17

10

17

Year of first birth

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, June 1980 and 1995, Current Population Surveys.

Premarital birth

Premaritally conceived birth

Postmaritally conceived birth

11

7 9 15

24

8

9 11

12

17

10

17

11

11

11

1930-34

1935-39

1940-44

1945-49

1950-54

1955-59

1960-64

1965-69

1970-74

1975-79

1980-84

1985-89

1990-94
4 U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

potentially unstable marriage during the 1990-94 period (Table

undertaken solely to prevent an 1). Only 1 in 10 Black women who

out-of-wedlock birth. had a premaritally conceived birth

in 1990-94 was married by the

Premarital childbearing by time of the child’s birth compared

race and Hispanic origin8 with one-quarter of Black women

with premaritally conceived first

Significant differences between births in the 1930s (Figure 2).

White women (45 percent) and Since the 1950s, the proportion of

Black women (86 percent) in the premaritally pregnant Black women

early 1990s are found in the who married before their child’s

proportion of first births either birth peaked around 40 percent in

premaritally born or conceived. the early 1960s with sharp drops

Hispanic women were intermediate occurring in the ensuing periods.

in terms of the proportion of first

births either premaritally born or The proportion of White women

conceived (54 percent) during the under age 30 who had either a

same period. For Black women premarital or premaritally con15 to 29 years old, the percentage ceived first birth tripled from

of first births either born or con- 15 percent in the early 1930s to

ceived before first marriage 45 percent in the early 1990s

doubled from 43 percent during (Table 1). Between the periods

the 1930-34 period to 86 percent 1930-34 and 1990-94, the premarital birth component increased from

6 percent to 32 percent while the 8 Hispanics may be of any race. Because the premaritally conceived birth

characteristics of race and Hispanic origin component also increased but only are not mutually exclusive, comparisons of

estimates for racial categories with esti- from 9 percent to 13 percent. mates for Hispanics are not recommended.

Unlike Black women who consistently had more premarital than

premaritally conceived births, a

transitional period in marriage

propensities is noted for White

women. After a long period of

marriage propensities recorded at

the 60 percent level, declines

began to occur during the 1970s,

falling to 29 percent by 1990-94.

Figure 2 illustrates that for all

periods under study, the proportion

of women with a premaritally

conceived first birth who married

before their child was born was

consistently less for Black women

than for White women.

The percent of first births either

premaritally born or conceived by

Hispanic women also increased —

from 29 percent in 1965-69 to

54 percent in 1990-94 (Table 1).

Twenty-six percent of Hispanic

women who had premaritally

conceived first births in 1990-94

married before their child was

born, a rate which was not statistically different from the proportion

observed for non-Hispanic women.9

Cohabitation status of the woman

at the time of her pregnancy may

affect differences in marriage

propensities by race and ethnic

origin. Analysis of data from two

surveys, the National Survey of

Families and Households and the

New York Fertility, Employment,

and Migration Survey, found that

cohabitation hastened the transition to marriage among

premaritally pregnant White

women, had no effect among

Black women, and had a strong

negative effect among Puerto

Rican women.10

9 Data for Hispanics are shown from the June

1995 CPS only for periods from the mid1960s. Since a significant proportion of

births to Hispanics living in the United States

at the time of the survey may have occurred

when they lived outside the United States,

data in this report are shown only for

Hispanics who had their first birth in the

United States immigration data were not

available from the June 1980 CPS.

10 W. Manning and N. Landale. “Racial and

Ethnic Differences in the Role of Cohabitation

in Premarital Childbearing,” Journal of

Marriage and the Family, 58(1996):63-67.

Figure 2.

Premaritally Pregnant Women 15 to 29 Years 

Old Marrying Before the Birth of Their First 

Child, by Race: 1930-34 to 1990-94

(Percent)

Year of first birth

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, June 1980 and 1995, Current Population Surveys.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

1930-34

1935-39

1940-44

1945-49

1950-54

1955-59

1960-64

1965-69

1970-74

1975-79

1980-84

1985-89

1990-94

White

Total

Hispanic

Black
U.S. CENSUS BUREAU 5

Table 2.

Marital Status of Women 15 to 19 Years Old at First Birth, by Race:

1930-34 to 1990-94

Percent of

premaritally Percent of first births

pregnant women

Number Premaritally Post-maritally marrying before

of first births Premarital conceived conceived the birth of their

Period of first birth (In thousands) birth birth birth first child1

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

ALL WOMEN

1990-94 1,873 75.213.8 11.0 15.5

1985-89 1,750 65.7 18.1 16.2 1.6

1980-84 2,046 56.5 19.2 24.3 25.4

1975-79 2,142 47.9 22.0 30.1 31.5

1970-74 2,224 34.8 30.6 34.6 46.8

1965-69 2,022 29.2 27.5 43.3 48.6

1960-64 1,881 18.3 26.7 55.0 59.3

1955-59 1,644 18.5 20.0 61.6 51.9

1950-54 1,441 16.0 19.1 64.9 54.3

1945-49 1,217 16.3 15.5 68.248.8

1940-44 1,041 15.1 13.271.8 46.6

1935-39 861 17.4 15.3 67.246.8

1930-34 754 14.5 13.8 71.8 48.8

RACE

White

1990-94 1,305 68.9 16.5 14.6 19.3

1985-89 1,220 55.6 24.0 20.4 30.2

1980-84 1,466 45.4 25.1 29.5 35.6

1975-79 1,564 36.6 26.9 36.5 42.4

1970-74 1,678 22.8 36.1 41.261.3

1965-69 1,519 17.5 30.1 52.4 63.2

1960-64 1,530 11.6 26.3 62.1 69.4

1955-59 1,327 10.0 21.0 69.0 67.7

1950-54 1,194 10.1 19.270.6 65.5

1945-49 981 10.1 13.8 76.1 57.7

1940-44 84210.5 11.2 78.3 51.6

1935-39 720 11.2 15.5 73.2 58.1

1930-34 622 9.9 14.6 75.4 59.6

Black

1990-94 466 91.8 6.6 1.6 6.7

1985-89 460 92.0 3.6 4.4 3.8

1980-84 516 86.0 3.210.8 3.6

1975-79 503 85.1 6.5 8.4 7.1

1970-74 510 74.213.4 12.3 15.3

1965-69 474 67.2 19.8 13.0 22.8

1960-64 331 49.1 27.6 23.2 36.0

1955-59 293 57.1 15.8 27.1 21.7

1950-54 226 46.9 16.3 36.8 25.8

1945-49 210 44.6 23.5 31.9 34.5

1940-44 181 35.9 20.7 43.4 36.6

1935-39 131 51.9 13.9 34.2 1.1

1930-34 126 37.0 10.3 52.7 21.8

HISPANIC ORIGIN2

Hispanic

1990-94 311 66.6 14.3 19.1 17.7

1985-89 264 58.8 17.4 23.7 22.8

1980-84 226 65.2 8.7 26.0 11.8

1975-79 236 41.3 19.3 39.4 31.8

1970-74 170 41.4 24.8 33.8 37.5

1965-69 113 26.2 8.1 65.7 23.6

Non-Hispanic

1990-94 1,56276.9 13.7 9.4 15.1

1985-89 1,486 66.9 18.3 14.9 21.5

1980-84 1,820 55.4 20.5 24.1 27.0

1975-79 1,906 48.7 22.3 28.9 31.4

1970-74 1,964 38.2 27.8 34.0 42.1

1965-69 1,786 34.0 28.2 37.7 45.3

Note: Data for 1975-79 to 1990-94 are based on the June 1995 Current Population Survey and are shown for

first births to women residing in the United States at the time of their first child’s birth. Data for 1930-34 to

1970-74 are based on June 1980 Current Population Survey and are for all women regardless of their place of

residence at the time of the first birth. Data for Hispanics are from the June 1995 CPS and are for first births to

women residing in the United States at the time of their child’s birth.

1 Column 5=[Column 3/(column 2 + column 3)]*100

2 Hispanics may be of any race.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, June 1980 and 1995 Current Population Surveys.

2

2

Premarital childbearing

among teenagers

Premarital childbearing among

teenagers has always been of

concern to policy makers because

of the emotional and economic

vulnerability of young women and

the resulting consequences for

their infant children. The total

proportion of first births which

were either premaritally born or

premaritally conceived to women

15 to 19 years old increased from

28 percent in the early 1930s to

89 percent in the early 1990s

(Table 2). The proportion of

premaritally conceived teen births

which occurred within marriage

peaked at about 59 percent in

1960-64. By 1990-94, only 16

percent of premaritally pregnant

teen women married before their

first birth.

In 1990-94, about 85 percent of

all first births to White women age

15 to 19 were either premaritally

born or premaritally conceived,

compared with 25 percent during

1930-34. About one in five

premaritally pregnant White teens

married before their child’s birth in

1990-94 compared with about

three in five in 1930-34. In the

early 1990s, 98 percent of all first

births to Black teenage women

were either premaritally born or

premaritally conceived, double the

proportion (47 percent) in 1930-34.

Only 1 out of every 15 premaritally

pregnant Black teens married

before their first birth.

For Hispanic teenage women in

1990-94, about 81 percent of first

births were either premaritally born

or premaritally conceived, compared with 34 percent in 1965-69.

About 18 percent of premaritally

pregnant Hispanic teenagers

married before their child’s birth.

Fertility before and

after first marriage

Changes in the age at first marriage, the likelihood of marital

dissolution, and remarriage have
6 U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

altered the potential periods in a first marriage (up to and including

woman’s life when she is likely to the month of termination of the

experience a first birth. Postpone- marriage by divorce or widowments in first marriages, delays in hood); (3) between the first and

childbearing within first marriage, second marriage (if a second

and increased marital dissolution marriage occurred); (4) during the

increase the likelihood that more second marriage; or (5) after the

births will occur outside the second marriage ended. Births,

woman’s first marriage. then, are defined not by any legal

status but by the marital interval in

Figure 3 illustrates the changing which the birth occurred.12

distribution of first births from the

late 1960s to the early 1990s by In the early 1990s, 35 percent of

marital status and marriage order. all first births occurred before first

For comparative purposes and to marriage, up from 17 percent in

include as many births as possible, the late 1960s (Table 3). Although

data have been limited to women the majority of first births in the

having their first birth between 1990s (59 percent) still occurred

ages 15 and 34 in the United during the woman’s first marriage,

States.11 First births are catego- this proportion was still signifirized by whether the birth oc- cantly lower than it was in the

curred: (1) before the first marriage

(premarital birth); (2) during the

12 For example, divorced women who conceived a child within marriage but gave birth

after their divorce date are classified as hav- 11 Vital Statistics data for 1996 indicate that ing a “marital” birth on her child’s birth cer94 percent of first births occurred to women tificate. Data in Table 2, however, only illusunder 35 years old. See Table 2 of the source trate the timing of the birth within a woman’s

cited in footnote 1. marital career.

late 1960s (81 percent). Childbearing between first and second

marriages accounted for only

2 percent of all first births occurring in the early 1990s compared

with 1 percent for the late 1960s.

About 4 percent of first births in

1990-94 occurred during or after

the woman’s second marriage—

up from 1 percent in 1965-69.

While most first births continue

to occur before or during first

marriage, an increase has occurred

since the late 1960s— from

1.9 percent in 1965-69 to

6 percent in 1990-94— in childbearing after first marriage. This

increase in first births after first

marriage occurred among both

White women and Black women.

Marriage after an

out-of-wedlock birth

After having an out-of-wedlock

birth, how rapidly do women

marry? Within a year of their first

birth, 13 percent of women who

had a premarital birth in the period

1985-89 were married compared

with 16 percent in the period 1965-

69; however, these differences are

not significant (Figure 4). Within

5 years of their first birth,

39 percent of the women in the

late 1980s premarital birth cohort

had married, compared with

56 percent of the women in the

late 1960s premarital birth cohort.

These data suggest that today, not

only are women less likely to marry

when premaritally pregnant, they

are also less likely to marry even

after the birth of their child.

Recent data from the National

Survey of Families and Households

indicate that children born out

of wedlock do not necessarily

grow up in a single-parent family.

Manning estimates that the

proportion of children born out-ofwedlock but who are born into

cohabiting families has increased

0

20

40

60

80

100

Figure 3.

Marital Status and Marriage 

Order of Women 15 to 34

Years Old at First Birth: 

1965-69 to 1990-94

(Percent)

Year of first birth

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, June 1995 Current Population Survey.

During and after second marriage

Between 1st and second marriage

During 1st marriage

Before 1st marriage

1965-69 1970-74 1975-79 1980-84 1985-89 1990-94
U.S. CENSUS BUREAU 7

from 27 percent in the early 1980s reduced when cohabitation is taken

to 41 percent in the 1990s.13 This into account. About 65 percent of

suggests that the levels of single Hispanic children born outside

parenthood are dramatically marriage are born into two-parent

cohabiting unions, compared with

57 percent for White women and 13 W. Manning, “Race and Ethnic Differences 26 percent for Black women. in Childbearing Among Cohabitors and Union

Stability.” Paper presented at the Research Increases in the proportion of

Conference on the 1995 National Survey of women having premarital births Family Growth, October 13-14, 1998,

Hyattsville, Maryland. and delays in first marriage after

their first birth indicate that

although many women experience

a considerable portion of their

early years of childbearing as

unmarried mothers, they do not

necessarily live apart from the

father of their child.

Who marries before the

birth of a premaritally

conceived child?

The previous sections have shown

that an important factor in understanding recent increases in the

proportion of first births that are

premaritally born is the likelihood

of a premaritally pregnant woman

marrying before her child’s birth,

once the decision has been made

to carry the pregnancy to term.

Which premaritally pregnant

women are more likely to have

married before their child’s birth?

Table 4 presents a demographic

profile of women 15 to 44 years

who had their first birth in the

most recent period, 1990-94,

by the various nonmarital and

marital outcomes of these births.

Because the June 1995 CPS contains information about the women

only at the time of the survey,

fertility distributions are not

analyzed for births in earlier time

periods, as current socioeconomic

characteristics may not accurately

represent the circumstances of

these women at the time of their

first birth.14

Also shown in Table 4 is the result

of a logistic regression which

investigates the extent to which

the listed explanatory variables are

associated with the likelihood of a

premaritally pregnant woman

having married before the birth of

14 Basic economic characteristics such as family income and labor force characteristics are

not shown, as these factors are likely to be

heavily influenced by the birth outcome (e.g.,

married couples generally have higher incomes than single parent families) and therefore have a dubious causative influence on

the analysis. Other characteristics, such as

educational attainment, may also be temporarily affected by periods of childbearing, but

do not reverse their levels once attained.

Table 3.

Marital Status and Marriage Order of Women 15 to 34

Years Old at First Birth, by Age, Race, and Hispanic Origin:

1965-69 to 1990-94

(Numbers in thousands)

Characteristic

 Period of first birth

1990-94 1985-89 1980-84 1975-79 1970-74 1965-69

ALL WOMEN

15 to 34 Years

Number of births

Percent

Before first marriage

During first marriage

Between first and second marriage

During second marriage

After second marriage

RACE

White

15 to 34 years

Number of births

Percent

Before first marriage

During first marriage

Between first and second marriage

During second marriage

After second marriage

Black

15 to 34 years

Number of births

Percent

Before first marriage

During first marriage

Between first and second marriage

During second marriage

After second marriage

HISPANIC ORIGIN1

Hispanic

15 to 34 years

 Number of births

Percent

Before first marriage

During first marriage

Between first and second marriage

During second marriage

After second marriage

Non-Hispanic

15 to 34 years

 Number of births

Percent

Before first marriage

During first marriage

Between first and second marriage

During second marriage

After second marriage

7,484

100.0

35.1

58.9

2.2

3.7

0.1

5,999

100.0

27.6

65.7

2.2

4.4

0.1

1,090

100.0

73.5

23.1

2.6

0.7

-

1,040

100.0

37.6

57.7

3.1

1.6

-

6,444

100.0

34.6

59.1

2.1

4.0

0.1

7,234 7,559 7,033 6,797 5,689

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

30.1 27.6 24.8 19.7 16.8

63.4 65.8 72.2 77.5 81.1

1.9 2.7 1.3 1.2 0.7

4.5 3.9 1.7 1.5 1.2

0.1 - 0.1 0.1 -

5,868 6,1325,790 5,755 4,809

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

22.5 19.8 17.4 13.9 10.8

70.272.8 79.3 83.287.0

1.9 2.8 1.1 1.1 0.8

5.3 4.6 2.0 1.7 1.4

0.1 - 0.1 0.1 0.1

1,069 1,146 1,024 862 743

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

71.7 68.8 66.4 56.0 55.8

25.0 28.2 31.3 41.5 43.5

2.6 2.1 2.2 2.0 0.1

0.5 0.9 0.1 0.5 0.6

0.2- - - -

753 685 621 472 305

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

34.8 36.7 32.0 29.8 17.7

61.6 60.9 66.0 69.0 79.2

1.3 2.0 1.9 1.3 2.2

2.4 0.4 - - -

----

6,481 6,874 6,4126,326 5,383

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

29.6 26.7 24.0 18.9 16.8

63.6 66.3 72.7 78.1 81.2

2.0 2.8 1.3 1.2 0.7

4.8 4.3 1.9 1.6 1.3

0.1 - 0.1 0.1 -

Note: Limited to women residing in the United States at the time of their 

- Represents zero or rounds to zero.

1 Hispanics may be of any race.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, June 1995 Current Population Survey.

 first child’s birth.

-
8 U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

her child. This supporting analysis child. Both the simple proportion

was used to better clarify these and logistic regression results

relationships as many of the confirm that, compared to women

variables in the table are related to in their early twenties, women in

each other and may mask each their early thirties were most likely

other’s independent associations to marry. It is possible that these

with the likelihood of having older women may have been

married. Column (6) labeled “odds cohabiting with their partner with

ratio” simply shows the odds of the intention of marrying their

having married before a partner or perhaps have more

premaritally conceived child is born established and stable relationrelative to some other reference ships which are more likely to lead

category or characteristic.15 to marriage when pregnancy

occurs. Since cohabitation quesOverall, about one-quarter of all tions are not used in CPS supplewomen 15 to 44 years old who had ments, it cannot be said if the

a premaritally conceived birth in pregnancy is the precipitating

1990-94 married before their child event of a marriage or the

was born. Teenage women who planned prelude.

were premaritally pregnant were

less likely than older women to Non-Hispanic Black women are

marry before the birth of their significantly less likely to marry

when premaritally pregnant than

non-Hispanic White women.16

15 An odds ratio of 1.0 for a characteristic

means that a woman with this characteristic 16 The race groups and Hispanic groups in is as likely to marry as a woman with the Table 4 are mutually exclusive in order to specified reference characteristic. Ratios un- perform the logistic regression. Race and der or over 1.0 indicate that a woman is less Hispanic groups in previous tables and fig- likely or more likely to marry, respectively. ures are not mutually exclusive, that is, His- The estimated logistic regression is available panics may be of any race. on request.

Premaritally pregnant women who

are not high school graduates are

less likely to marry, compared with

women who were high school

graduates. Results from the

regression analysis also indicate

that women who live in the Midwest were less likely to have

married than women in the South

when premaritally pregnant.

Summary

The marital status of American

women at the time of their first

births has significantly changed

since the 1930s. In the early

1930s, one in six first births to

women under age 30 was conceived or born before marriage,

compared with one in two births in

the early 1990s. The proportion of

first births among teenage women

resulting from premarital conceptions tripled from 28 percent in

1930-34 to 89 percent in 1990-94.

This proportion increased more as

a result of an increase in the

proportion of births that were

premaritally born than an increase

in the proportion of births that

were premaritally conceived.

Today, a smaller proportion of

women marry after having a first

birth out-of-wedlock than in the

1960s. Among women who had

a birth in the late 1980s, about

39 percent married within 5 years

of the child’s birth, compared

with 56 percent of women who

had a premarital first birth in the

late 1960s.

Teenage women, non-Hispanic

Black women, women with less

than high school education, and

women who live in the Midwest

are less likely to marry when premaritally pregnant with their first

births than are other women.

However, premarital childbearing

today is not an isolated phenomenon but occurs and has increased

throughout all sociodemographic

segments of women in the

United States.

Figure 4.

Cumulative Percent of Women 15 to 34

Years Old Who Subsequently Married After 

Having Their First Birth Out-of-Wedlock

(Percent)

Interval between first birth and first marriage in years

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, June 1995 Current Population Survey.

1965-69

1970-74

1975-79

1980-84

1985-89

Within 1 year Within 2 years Within 5 years

15.9 16.3 14.8

12.0 13.3

33.1

27.8

24.5

20.3

22.6

56.0

46.8

45.1

40.8

39.3
U.S. CENSUS BUREAU 9

Source of the Data Accuracy and Reliability interpret questions, how able

of the Data and willing respondents are to Most estimates in this report come provide correct answers, and from data obtained in June 1980 Statistics from sample surveys how accurately answers are and 1995 Current Population are subject to sampling and coded and classified. The Census Surveys (CPS). The Census Bureau nonsampling error. All compari- Bureau employs quality control conducts the CPS every month, sons presented in this report have procedures throughout the produc- although this report uses only data taken sampling error into account tion process—including the from the June surveys. and meet Census Bureau standards overall design of surveys, testing for statistical significance. the wording of questions, review Nonsampling errors in surveys of the work of interviewers may be attributed to a variety of and coders, and statistical sources, such as how the survey review of reports. was designed, how respondents

Table 4.

Marital Status of Women 15 to 44 Years Old at First Birth, by Selected Characteristics: 1990-94

(Numbers in thousands)

Percent of first births Percent of premaritally

Number Premaritally Post- pregnant women

of first birth Premarital conceived maritally marrying before the birth Odds

Characteristic (In thousands) birth birth conceived of their first child1 ratio2

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

ALL WOMEN 7,859 33.6 11.0 55.3 24.7 (X)

Age At First Birth

 15 to 19 years 1,873 75.213.8 11.0 15.5 0.518 *

 20 to 24 years 2,492 36.9 15.1 48.0 29.0 ...

 25 to 29 years 1,959 11.8 7.2 81.0 37.9 1.562

 30 to 34 years 1,159 5.6 7.0 87.4 55.6 2.995 *

 35 to 44 years 376 5.2 2.5 92.3 32.5 0.944

Race/ Ethnicity 3

 Non-Hispanic White 5,420 24.8 10.9 64.3 30.5 ...

 Non-Hispanic Black 1,104 71.9 8.219.9 10.20.247 *

 Non-Hispanic Other races 39 72.2 12.4 15.4 14.7 0.486

 Hispanic 1,296 36.7 14.1 49.3 27.8 0.956

Years Of School Completed

 Not a high school graduate 1,304 63.6 10.5 25.9 14.2 0.535 *

 High school graduate (includes GED) 2,612 38.9 14.0 47.1 26.5 ...

 Some college, no degree, or associate degree 2,192 30.8 12.2 56.9 28.4 1.031

 Bachelor’s, graduate, or professional degree 1,751 7.0 5.6 87.4 44.4 1.539

Citizenship Status

 Native born 6,954 34.3 10.9 54.9 24.1 ...

 Naturalized citizen 168 25.3 7.6 67.1 23.1 0.838

 Not a U.S. citizen 738 29.5 13.5 57.0 31.4 1.541

Metropolitan Residence

 In central cities 2,521 42.5 10.7 46.8 20.1 0.876

 Outside central cities 3,904 27.3 10.6 62.1 28.0 ...

 Nonmetropolitan 1,434 35.3 12.8 51.9 26.6 1.216

Region Of Residence

 Northeast 1,476 31.9 10.4 57.7 24.6 0.643

 Midwest 1,63235.8 9.6 54.6 21.1 0.556 *

 South 2,823 34.4 11.7 53.9 25.4 ...

 West 1,928 32.0 11.8 56.2 26.9 0.660

Regression Results

Number of observations (unweighted) 1708

Chi-square 207.737

Degrees of freedom 17

Note: Limited to women residing in the United States at the time of their first child’s birth.

(X) Not applicable.

... Reference category.

* Statistically significant at the 90-percent confidence level.

1 Column 5=[column 3/(column 2 + column 3)]*100.

2 Odds of marrying relative to the reference category.

3 Categories for race and Hispanic origin are mutually exclusive in this table.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, June 1995 Current Population Survey.
10 U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

The CPS employs ratio estimation, More Information User Comments

whereby sample estimates are More information on the fertility The Census Bureau welcomes the adjusted to independent estimates characteristics of American women comments and advise of users of of the national population by age, is available on the Internet (http:// its data and reports. If you have race, sex, and Hispanic origin. www.census.gov); search any suggestions or comments, This weighting partially corrects for for fertility data by selecting “F” please write to: bias due to undercoverage, but under the “Subjects A to Z” section how it affects different variables in

on the home page, and then Chief , Population Division the survey is not precisely known. selecting “Fertility.” U.S. Census Bureau Moreover, biases may also be Washington, DC 20233 present when people who are Definitions and explanations for missed in the survey differ from the various concepts and character- or send an e-mail inquiry to: those interviewed in ways other istics shown in this report from the pop@census.gov than the categories used in weight- Current Population Survey are now ing (age, race, sex, and Hispanic available to users on Suggested Citation origin). All of these considerations the Internet. affect comparisons across different Bachu, Amara. Trends in Premarisurveys or data sources. tal Childbearing: 1930 to 1994. Contacts Current Population Reports,

For further information on statisti- Statistical Information Staff P23-197. U.S. Census Bureau,

cal standards and the computation pop@census.gov Washington, DC, 1999.

and use of standard errors, contact 301-457-2422 Martha L. Jones, Demographic

Statistical Methods Division, at Amara Bachu

301-457-4214 or on the Internet at abachu@census.gov

Martha.L.Jones@ccmail.census.gov. 301-457-2449