From Vital and Health Statistics of the National Center for Health Statistics No. 107 � April 12, 1985 

PROPERWOF~E ; 

PUBLICATIO[tS fiRANCti 

EDITORRLLIBMY 

Marriage and First intercourse, 

Marital Dissoktion, and Remarriage: 

United States, 1982


by Christine A. Bachrach, Ph. D., and Marjorie C. Horn, M.A., Division of Vital Statistics


@ 

o 

Changing patterns of marriage, divorce, and premarital 

sexual behavior are reflected in recent trends in marital and 

premarital births. Over the past two decades, the proportion 

of births occurring to unmarried women has risen dramatically, 

from 5 percent in 1960 to 19 percent in 1982. 1‘2 Slightly 

re than half of this change is due to a rise in births 

u?married women, resulting from an increase in both 

their fertility rate and their number in the population. The 

increased fertility rate for unmarried women is associated 

with a substantial shift in the timing of first sexual intercourse 

in relation to marriage. Nearly half of women manying in 

the years 1960-64 delayed their first sexual intercourse until 

marriage, compared with only one-fifth of women who first 

married between 1975 and 1979. Declines in marital fertility 

rates account for the other half of the rise in the proportion 

of births to unmarried women. Those declines may reflect, 

in part, another fundamental change in the institution of 

marriage~eclining mmital stability. The likelihood of divorce, separation, or widowhood within 5 years of marriage 

was half as high among women first married during the 

years 1960-64 as among those first married in the years 

1975–79. These findings on timing of first sexual intercourse 

and marital dissolution are based on preliminary data from 

the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), Cycle III. 

The National Survey of Family Growth is conducted 

periodically by the National Center for Health Statistics 

(NCHS) on topics related to childbearing, contraceptive practice, and related aspects of maternal and child health. In 

Cycle HI, conducted in 1982, interviews were completed 

with a probability sample of 7,969 women 15-44 years of 

age in the noninstitutional population of the conterminous 

lited States. The sample included 4,651 ever married and 

,318 never married women. Previous cycles of the survey 

were conducted in 1976 and 1973. Further details about 

the sample design and reliability of the data presented in 

this report are given in the Technical notes. 

A primary purpose of the National Survey of Family 

Growth is to provide national estimates of factors that influence 

childbearing. The most basic of these factors is, of course, 

exposure to sexual intercourse. Marital status is an important 

determinant of exposure to sexual intercourse. Women marrying during the 1960’s and 1970’s increasingly began their 

sexual experience before marriage, as this report shows, but 

exposure to intercourse is still substantially higher among 

ever married than never married women. This is true whether 

exposure is measured as ever having had intercourse or as 

having had intercourse in the 3 months before the interview.3 

Similarly, despite the increase in the proportion of births 

occurring to unmarried women since the early 1960’s, the 

great majority of all births, and even of first births, still 

occur within man-iage. 1‘z Thus, marriage and marital dissolution continue to be important factors in explaining 

childbearing. 

This report presents data on the timing of first sexual 

intercourse in relation to first marriage, and the timing of 

marital dksolution and remarriage among ever married women 

in the United States. Data on age at first sexual intercourse 

among all women, including never married women, will 

be presented in a subsequent report. 

liming of first sexual intercourse 

in relation to marriage 

About two-thirds of ever married women 1544 years 

of age had had sexual intercourse before marriage 

(table 1). About 20 percent of all ever married women married 

within 1 year of initiating sexual activity, 23 percent married 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Public Health Service 
2 achancedata 

within 1–3 years, and about 25 percent married 3 or more 

years after their first intercourse. 

The proportion of women who delayed sexual intercourse 

until marriage declined from 48 percent among women marrying during the period 1960-64, to 21 percent among women 

marrying in the years 1975–79. The largest decline appears 

to have occurred between 1965-69, when 42 percent of 

women marrying for the first time had not previously had 

intercourse, and 197(L74, when only 28 percent had delayed 

intercourse. This increase in the prevalence of premarital 

intercourse has also been reported in studies of both ever 

married and never married teenagers.= ‘, 

Women who married in the late 1970’s experienced longer 

periods of premarital sexual exposure than women who married in the early 1960’s. Among women marrying in the 

years 1975–79, 23 percent had initiated their sexual experience 

5 or more years before marriage, compared with only 

2 percent of women marrying during the years 1960-64. 

About 17 percent of women marrying in the years 1960-64 

married within 6 months of their first intercourse, compared 

with only 7 percent of women marrying in the years 1975–79. 

These changes reflect a probable decline in the average age 

of first sexual intercourse as well as an increase in the 

median age of women at their first marriage. 4’7 

Data for women who married before 1960 are not shown 

separately in table 1. Because the NSFG was restricted to 

women aged 15-44 in 1982, women marrying before 19 

who were 44 years of age at the time of the survey wou m have to have married before age 23; women under 44 years 

of age when the survey was conducted would have to have 

married at progressively younger ages. These women would 

have had fewer years to experience premarital intercourse 

than women marrying during the same years but at older 

ages. This bias may also have some effect on the comparison 

between the 1960-64 and later groups shown in table 1. 

Table 1 shows that white ever married women were 

much more likely than black ever married women to delay 

first sexual intercourse until marriage (35 percent compared 

with 9 percent, respectively), and were less likely to have 

delayed marriage 5 years or mroe after their first sexual 

experience (11 compared with 26 percent). Among both 

black and white women, those married in the years 1975–79 

were less than half as likely as those married in the years 

1960-64 to have delayed their first sexual intercourse until 

marriage. The difference among white women (22 compared 

with 53 percent) was statistically significant, while the difference among black women (5 compared with 12 percent) 

was not. 

Table 1. Number of ever married women 15-44 yeara of age and percent distributionby timing of marrfage relative to first sexual intercourse, aoeordingto 

me, Hispanioorigin, and year of first marriage United States, 1982 

[Preliminary 

and derinitiona 

data 

of 

based 

terms] 

on a sample of the noninstitutional population of the sonterminous United States. See Technieel notes for discussion of the sample design, estimatea of sampling VariSbihlY,�

Months between first intercourse and mamage 

Race, Hispanic Ever Marriage before 

origin, and year of married or same month as 5 months 6-11 12-35 36-59 60 months 

first marriage women Total first interwurae or less months months months or more 

Number in 

Total’ thousands Percent distribution 

All yearsz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34,937 100.0 32.6 12.2 7.3 23.4 12.3 12.2 

1975-79 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,336 100.0 21.4 7.0 6.7 24.8 16.9 23.2 

1970-74 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,266 100.0 28.1 13.5 8.6 29.0 12.2 6.6 

196.5-69 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,326 100.0 42.2 14.3 6.7 19.1 10.7 6.9 

1960-84 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,505 100.0 48.3 17.3 �6.7 20.2 *5.4 �2.1 

White 

All years2 . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,419 100.0 34.6 12.5 7.1 23.4 11.3 11.0 

1975-79 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,477 100.0 22.4 7.2 7.2 25.1 16.2 21.9 

1970-74 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,176 100.0 29.5 13.7 8.6 29.6 10.8 7.4 

1965-89 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,400 100.0 45.1 14.5 �6.4 17.8 10.0 “6.2 

1960-84 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,604 100.0 52.6 17.6 *5.6 19.2 *3.4 *1.6 

Black 

Allyeare2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,442 100.0 8.8 9.0 8.4 25.2 22.9 25.7 

1975-79 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687 100.0 ‘5.4 �4.7 *2.8 19.0 27.4 40.7 

1970-74 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765 100.0 ‘7.7 6.6 10.2 25.2 27.0 21.3 

1965-89 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709 100.0 12.2 12.2 *7.7 35.6 17.4 14.9 

196C-64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533 100.0 12.0 “1 0.9 16.4 30.8 22.1 *7.6 

Hispanic origin 

Hispanic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,790 100.0 44.7 . 12.8 �5.7 18.3 �9.5 ‘9.0 o 

Non-l-liepan i c . . . . . . . . . . . 31,191 100.0 31.6 11.9 7.5 23.7 12.7 12.7 

TIncludes whiie, black and other races, and women of unknown origin. 

2 Includes all firet marriages before 1960 and between 19S0 and interview. 
� 

� 

aclwlncedata 3 

e 

Women of Hispanic origin were more likely than other 

women to delay their first sexual intercourse until marriage, 

as shown in the bottom rows of tabie 1. About 45 percent 

of Hispanic women, compared with 32 percent of nonHispanic women, first had intercourse after marriage. 

Dissolution of first marriage 

In 1982, approximately 30 percent of first marriages 

to women aged 1544 had been dissolved by divorce, separation, or death (table 2). Nearly 4 percent of all first marriages 

were dissolved within 1 year of the date of the first marriage, 

11 percent within 3 years, 15 percent within 5 years, and 

24 percent within 10 years. 

The proportion of first marriages dissolved within 5 

years was approximately twice as high for women married 

in the years 1975–79 (20 percent) as for women married 

in the years 1960-64 (10 percent). Similarly, at each duration 

greater than 1 year for which the experience of a marriage 

cohort (a group of women marrying during the same time 

period) had been completed, the more recent marriage cohorts 

experienced a higher rate of marital dissolution than the 

earlier ones, although in most cases the differences were 

too small to be statistically significant. Note that the proportions of marriages disrupted within 3 to 10 years for the 

1975–79 cohort, within 10 or 15 years for the 1970-74 

cohorts, and within 15 years for the 1965-69 cohorts are 

biased downward, because not all women in these cohorts 

had completed the indicated number of years of marriage 

by the time of the survey. This truncation bias has been 

indicated in table 2 by italicizing the affected percents. 

Marriages of black women were dissolved at a higher 

rate than marriages of white women at each duration of 

marriage. By the time of the interview, about 29 percent 

of white ever married women, compared with about 

46 percent of black ever married women, had experienced 

the dissolution of their first marriage. These differences appear 

to have narrowed over time. Among women married during 

the years 1960-64, 23 percent of black women, compared 

with 9 percent of white women, had experienced a marital 

dissolution within 5 years; among women married in the 

years 1975–79, the comparable proportions were 24 and 

20 percent, respectively. Thus, the increase in marital disruption appears to have been confined to marriages involving 

white women. There were no significant differences in 

cumulative rates of marital disruption between Hispanic and 

non-Hispanic women, as shown in the bottom rows of 

table 2. 

Table 2. Nm’nberof ever married wornen 1544 years of age and cumulative percent whose first marriage was d-cd by separation, dworce, or death, by 

yeara since ffrat marrfege, according to race, Niapenic ori@n, and year of first ma- United State~ 1982 

[Preliminarydatabaaedona sampleofthe noninstilutbnalpopulationofthecanterminousUnitedStates.Sea Technicalnotesfordiscussionofthesampledesign,estimatesofsamplingvariabilkj, 

anddefinitionsofterms] 

Race, Hispanic 

origin, and year of 

first
 marriage 

Total’ 

All years2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

1975-79 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

197C-74 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

1965-69 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

1960-64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

White 

Allyears2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

1975-79 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

1970-74 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

1965-69 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

1960-64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Black 

All years2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

1975-79 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

1970-74 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

1965-69 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

196f!-64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Hispanic origin 

Hispanic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Non-Hispanic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Years since first mamage 

Ever 

marifed 1 2 3 4 5 10 15 All 

women year years years years yeara years years yeas 

Number in 

thousands 

34,937 

7,336 

6,266 

7,326 

5,505 

30,419 

6,477 

7,176 

6,400 

4,804 

3,442 

687 

785 

709 

533 

2,790 

31,191 

Cumulative percent dissolved at time of interview 

3.6 7.4 11.2 13.4 15.5 24.4 28.4 30.4 

‘4.1 9.6 15.0 18.9 20.4 22.1 . . . 22.1 

‘3.5 7.6 12.8 15.6 18.7 32.6 33.1 33.1 

“3.7 7.0 10.6 12.4 15.2 26.9 38,8 39.7 

‘3.4 �5.6 7.3 8.8 10.3 22.0 29.7 35.8 

3.5 7.1 10.9 13.0 14.7 23.2 27.0 26.9 

�4.1 10.0 15.0 18.8 20.2 21.5 . . . 21.5 

�3.2 7.3 12.5 15.3 16.0 31.5 31.8 31.8 

‘3.6 6.6 10.3 11.9 13.9 27.7 37.5 38.5 

�2.6 “4.8 �6.4 7.9 8.6 19.3 26.4 32.7 

6.4 11.4 15.2 16.6 23.9 36.9 43.0 45.6 

�5.4 10.4 18.4 22.0 24.3 27.6 . . . 27.6 

‘5.3 11.9 17.0 22.1 26.6 45.0 47.0 47.0 

�6.5 11.7 15.6 17.6 28.1 44.1 55.6 55.9 

‘9.1 12.8 15.4 17.7 22.7 44.5 57.6 62.6 

�3.9 *8.6 �13.1 15.2 17.3 24.3 27.2 29.0 

3.7 7.3 10.9 13.2 15.2 24.3 26.4 30.4 

TIncludeswhfie,blackandotherraces,andwomenofunknownorigin. 

2Includestirstmarriagesbeginningbefore1960andbetween1980andinteniew. 

NOTE:Figuresinitaliirsftsctincompleteesparienceofallorsomewomeninagiven marrfagasehort(seetest), 
�

�

4 &ncedata 

Remarriage 

Nearly 60 percent of the women whose first marriages 

were dissolved by divorce or death of the spouse had remarried 

by the time of the survey (table 3). Women whose first 

marriages ended in separation only are not included in this 

table because they are not legally permitted to remarry. About 

7 percent of women whose first marriages were dissolved by divorce or death had remarried within 1 year, 

about 35 percent within 3 years, and about 48 percent within 

5 years. Over half of the women who had remarried by 

the time of the survey had done so within 3 years. 

Table 3 shows proportions of women who remarried 

according to the years in which their first marriages ended. 

Over four-fifths of women who were divorced or widowed 

in the 1960’s had remanied by the time of the survey, 

compared with only about half of women divorced or widowed 

during the period 1975–79. This reflects not only the longer 

period to time in which the former group of women could 

have remarried, but also a probable decline in the likelihood 

of remarriage between the 1960’s and late 1970’s. Women 

whose first marriages ended in the 1970’s tended to remarry 

within 2 to 5 years less often than women whose first marriages 

ended in the 1960’s. Although none of these differences 

is statistically significant, they consistently suggest a lower 

rate of remarriage in the 1970’s than in the 1960’s. As 

in table 2, some of the percents in table 3 are biased downwar 

in this case because not all women whose marriages enda 

during a given period of time had completed the indicated 

number of years between dissolution and interview. These 

percents appear in italics. 

Data from the marriage-registration area indicate a similar 

trend in remarriage (see Technical notes). These data show 

that the yearly remarriage rate per 1,000 widowed or divorced 

women aged 25Jl4 varied between 140 and 157 during the 

years 1963–72 and then fell from 155 to 128 during the 

period 1972–79.8 

Rates of remarriage among divorced or widowed women 

were significantly lower for black women compared with 

white women. Considering all marriage cohorts together, 

61 percent of white women and 46 percent of black women 

had remarried by the time of the survey. Similar differences 

appear in the cumulative proportions remarrying by 2 to 

5 years after divorce or death, and for 2 of the 4 marriage 

cohorts . 

When all women whose first marriages dissolved are 

considered, including women whose first marriages ended 

in separation only, the differences by race in the percent 

Table 3. Number of women 15-44 years of age whose first marriage was dissolved by divorce or death of spouse, and cumulative pareent who remarried by 

yeara since dissolution, aeeording to rsoej Hispanic origin, and year of dissolution: United State$ 1982 

[Preliminary data baaed on a sample of tha noninaliiutional population of the conterminoua United S!atea. See Teshnical notea for dissuasion of the sample design, estimates of sampling Variability 

and definitions of terms] 

Yeara she dksolution of first marriage 

Race, Hispanic First 

origin, and year marriage 1 2 3 4 5 All 

of dissolution dissolved year years yeara years years years 

Number in 

Total’ thousande Cumulative percent remarried at time of interview 

Allyears2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,459 6.9 23.6 34.7 42.1 46.2 59.1 

1975-79 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,185 ‘6.4 23.2 34.8 43.8 48.1 53.6 

1970-74 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,543 ‘9.0 22.1 35.1 42.2 52.2 68.8 

1965--69 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,212 *6.5 32.5 45.5 54.4 59.6 82.7 

1960-64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526 *3.7 “31 .3 ‘43.6 56.6 69.1 89.1 

White 

Allyears2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S,145 7.3 25.2 36.5 44.3 50.5 60.6 

1975-79 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,831 *6.6 24.7 36,0 45.9 50.1 55.4 

1970-74 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,183 “10.5 24.0 38.0 44.5 54.8 70.9 

196S69 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,027 ‘5.4 34.1 49.1 56.9 63.6 85.3 

1960-64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 ‘3.0 37.4 48.8 63.5 80.0 94.6 

Black 

Allyears2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,056 “4.3 10.5 18.2 23.3 28.2 45.7 

1975-79 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 ‘5.8 ‘9.2 �17.4 “19.4 24.9 30.2 

1970-74 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303 “0.4 ‘7.0 “15.6 23.8 29.8 51.0 

1965-69 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 ‘7.7 ‘20.3 2I .7 ‘26.0 34.5 70.7 

1960-64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 �6.6 *9.3 “27.1 “37.0 39.1 69.1 

Hispanic origin 

Hispanic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641 “4.0 “17.5 “27.7 “34.3 “36.7 5 

Non-Hispanic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,464 7.2 24.2 35.5 43.0 49.2 59. e

1Includes white, black and other races, and women of unknown origin.


2 Includes first marriages dissolved before 196o and between 1980 and interview.


NOTE Figures in italics reflect incomplete experience o{ all or some women in agivan marriage cohorl (ace text).

aclmncedata 5 

e 

e 

remarrying are even larger (31 percent of black women compared with 55 percent of white women). This is because 

e first marriages of black women are more likely than 

ose of white women to end in separation only. As the 

figure shows, 36 percent of dissolved first marriages of black 

women ended in separation only, compared with 11 percent 

Fgure. Pereent distribution of dissolved first marriages of women 15-44 

~ea of ege by type of dkieoluiion, according to race United State& 

� White 100 

90 � Black 

B2.8


—


80


70


60
 54.1
 g


2 50


1?


40


30


20


10


— — 

Divorce Separation only Death 

Type of dissolution 

References 

]National Center for Health Statistics: Vital Statistics of the United 

States, 1979, Vol. I. DHHS Pub. No. (PHS) 84-1100. Public Health 

Service. Washington. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1984. 

ZNation~ Center for Health Statistics: Advance repOI’t of final na~ity 

statistics, 1982. Monthly Vital Statkti”csReport. Vol. 33, No. 6 Supp. 

DHHS Pub. (PHS) 84-1120. Public Health Service. Hyattsville, Md., 

Sept. 28, 1984. 

3C. A. Bachrach: Contraceptive Practice, 1982. Paper presented at the 

annual meeting of the Population Association of America. Minneapolis, May 3, 1984. 

4M. ZeInik and J. F. Kantner: Sexual activity, contraceptive use, and 

pregnancy among metropolitan-area teenagers, 197I–79. FarmPkmn. 

Perspect. 12(5):230-237,1980. 

SM. Zelnik J F. Kantner, and K. Ford. Sex and pfegiXUICY in Adoles­ ,. 

cence. Beverly HNs, Crdif. Sage Publications, 1981. 

. F. Pratt and G. E. Hendershot: Use of family planning services by 

sexually active teenagers, 1982. Paper presented at the annual meeting 

of the Population Association of America. Minneapolis, May 3, 1984. 

‘National Center for Health Statistics: Advance report of final marriage statistics, 1981. Monthly Vital Statistics Report, Vol. 32, No. 11 

of dissolved first marriages of white women. Thus the lower 

percent of divorced or widowed black women who remarried 

is compounded by a higher proportion of black women who 

are no longer married and are not legally fi-ee to remarry. 

Differences in remarriage rates between Hispanic and non-Hispanic women were not statistically significant. 

Related sources of data 

A detailed analysis of remarriage among women whose 

first marriage ended in divorce is presented in a previous 

report based on data fi-om the National Survey of Family 

Growth, Cycle II.g These data are not directly comparable 

to those presented in this report because the earlier data 

were based on computed probabilities of remarriage rather 

than cumulative proportions remarrying, and because the data 

in the earlier report are limited to women whose fiist marriages 

ended in divorce. Nevertheless, t%dngs of both reports are 

similar with respect to race differences in remarriage. 

Data on marriage and divorce are also published annually 

by the National Center for Health Statistics in Monthly Vital 

Statistics Report, Advance report of final marriage statistics; 

Monthly Vital Statistics Report, Advance report of fma.1 divorce statistics; and in Vital Statistics of the United States, 

Volume III, Marriage and Divorce. 

Supp. DHHS Pub. No. (PHS) 81-1120. Public Health Service. 

Hyattsville, Md., Feb. 29, 1984. 

8National centerfor He~th Statistics: Vital S.zWisticsof fie United 

States, Vol. III. Public Health Service. Annually. 

%Jational Center for Health Statistics, W. Grady Remarriages of 

women 15-44 years of age whose fwst marriage ended in divorce, 

United States, 1976. Advance Data From Vital and Health Statistics, 

No. 58. DHEW Pub. No. (PHS) 80-1250. Public Health Service. 

Hyattsville, Md., Feb. 14, 1980. 

%ational Center for Health Statistics, D. French: The National Survey of Family Growth, Cycle I, Sample design, estimation procedures, and variance estimation. Vital and Health Statistics. Series 2, 

No. 76. DHEW Pub. No. (PHS) 78-1350. Public Health Service. 

Washington. U.S. Government Printing Office, Jan. 1978. 

IlNation~ Center for Health Statistics, W. Grady The Nation~ Survey of Family Growth, Cycle II, Sample design, estimation procedures, and variance estimation. Vital and Health Statistics. Series 2, 

No. 87. DHEW Pub. No. (PHS) 8 1–1361. Public Health Service. 

Washington. U.S. Government Printing Office, Feb. 1981. 
6 

Technical notes 

Sufvey design 

The National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) is conducted periodically by the National Center for Health Statistics 

to collect data on fertility, family planning, and related aspects 

of maternal and child health. Field work for the first cycle 

was conducted under contract in 1973 by the National Opinion 

Research Center. Field work for the second and third cycles 

was conducted by Westat, Inc., in 1976 and 1982, 

respectively. 

In all cycles, personal interviews were conducted with 

a multistage area probability sample of women 1544 years 

of age in the noninstitutional population of the conterminous 

United States. In Cycles I and II, ever married women and 

never married women with offspring living in the same household were eligible for the survey. In Cycle III, all women 

aged 15-44 were eligible, regardless of marital status or 

the presence of offspring. Women living in group quarters 

(such as college dormitories) were excluded from the samples 

in Cycles I and II, but included in Cycle III. Interviews 

were conducted with 7,969 women in Cycle III. 

Fieldwork for Cycle 111 was conducted between August 

1982 and February 1983. Black women and women aged 

15–1 9 were oversampled. Interviews were conducted by 

trained female interviewers and lasted an average of 1 hour. 

The interview focused on a woman’s pregnancy history, use 

of contraceptives in each pregnancy interval, ability to bear 

children, future childbearing expectations, use of family planning and infertility services, marital history, and labor force 

participation; and incorporated a wide range of social, 

economic, and demographic characteristics. 

Reliability of estimates 

Because the statistics presented in this report are based 

on a sample, they may differ from the statistics that would 

result if all 54 million women represented by the NSFG 

had been interviewed. The standard error (SE) of an estimate 

is a measure of such differences. The standard error of an 

estimated number or percent presented in this report may 

be calculated by using the appropriate values of A and B 

from table I in the equations, 

and 

SE(P) = (B . p’ . 100X: P’)*’2 

where N’ is the number of women, P’ is the percent, and 

X’ is the number of women in the denominator of the percent. 

Approximate standard errors for estimated percents of ever 

married women of all races in Cycle III are shown in 

table II. 

Tti L PamntxaMuaadtocomputeaatknatedstandarderrorsandrafative 

standardem of nwnbera end parcerstaof ever marriedwomen by 

Suway of F- G- CytSeIll 

Race A B 

All races and white . . . . . . . . -0.001097329 39609.1677 

Black . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -0.000906632 6346.0464 

ractxNational

TWe Il. Approximate standarderrorsforeatimatadparoenta(expressed 

~ ~~n~ @n@) foraver nwrriedwomen ofanrecas Ne(fonal Survey of FamifyGro~ CyolaIII 

Estimated percent 

Base of 2 or 5 or 10 or 20 or 30 or 40 or 

percent 989590807060 50 

Ioo,ow ...,.. 6.6 13,8 18.9 25.2 26.9 30.9 31.5 

500,000 . 4.0 6.1 8.5 11.3 12.9 13.6 14.1 

1,000,000 ., .,.. 2.8 4,3 6.0 6.0 9.1 9.6 10.0 

5,000,000 1.2 1.9 2.7 3.6 4.1 4.4 4.5 

10,000,000 0.9 1.4 1.9 2.5 2.9 3.1 3.2 

30,000,000 0.5 0.6 1.1 1.5 1.7 1.8 1.8 

The chances are about 68 in 100 that a sample estimate 

would fall within one standard error, and about 95 in 100 

that it would fall within two standard errors of a statistic 

based on a complete count of the population represented 

by the NSFG. Differences between percents discussed in 

this report were found to be statistically significant at the 

95-percent confidence level using a two-tailed t-test with 

39 degrees of freedom. This means that in repeated samples 

of the same type and size, a difference as large as th 

one observed would occur in only 5 percent of samplet ‘r 

if there were in fact no difference between the percents 

in the population. 

The relative standard error of a statistic is the ratio 

of the standard error to the statistic and is usually expressed 

as a percent of the estimate. In this report, statistics with 

relative standard errors of 30 percent or larger are indicated 

with an asterisk (*). These estimates are considered unreliable 

by themselves but may be combined with other estimates 

to make comparisons of greater precision. 

Statistics in this report may also be subject to nonsampling 

error, that is, errors or omissions in responding to the interview, recording answers, and processing data. The data have 

been adjusted for nonsampling error resulting from nonresponse by means of adjustments to the sample weights assigned 

to each case. Other types of non sampling error were minimized 

by a series of stringent quality control measures similar to 

those used in Cycles I and II. ‘o’]‘ 

Definitions of terms 

Race—Race refers to the race of the woman interviewed 

and is reported as black, white, or other. In Cycle III, 

race was classified according to the woman’s report of the 

race that best described her. 

Hispanic origin—In Cycle 111,a respondent was classifie 

as being of Hispanic ongin if she reported that her onl,T or principal national origin was Puerto Rican, Cuban, Mexican 

NOTE: A list of references follows the text, 
actwncedata 7 

American, Central or South American, or other Spanish. 

For 3 percent of respondents, origin was not ascertained. 

-y n this report, values have not been imputed, and only cases 

I ,ith known values are included in the statistics on Hispanic 

origin. In tables where data are presented for women according 

to race and Hispanic origin, women of Hispanic origin are 

included in the statistics for white and black women if they 

were classified as such by race. 

Marital status—Persons were classified by marital status 

as married, widowed, divorced, separated, or never married. 

In Cycles I and II, informally married women—women who 

volunteered that they were sharing living quarters with their 

sexual partner-were classified as currently married. These 

women constituted about 2 percent of currently married respondents in Cycle I and 3 percent in Cycle 11. In 

Cycle III, such women were classified according to their 

legal marital status. In all cycles, women who were married 

but separated from their spouses were classified as separated 

if the reason for the separation was marital discord; otherwise, 

they were classified as currently married. Formal marital 

status is used throughout this report. Thus, for example, 

the number of years between first marriage and dissolution 

refers to the time elapsed between the date of the first 

formal marriage and the date of dissolution; remarriage is 

entry into a second formal union. 

Marital dissolution—Dissolution of formal marriage includes death of the spouse, separation due to marital discord, 

and divorce. In the case of divorce, the date that a woman 

n and her husband separated is used to compute the number 

)f years between fh-st marriage and dissolution. 

Timing of first sexual intercourse—Persons were classified according to whether their first sexual intercourse occurred after their first marriage, or, if not, how long before 

marriage it occurred. The date of first sexual intercourse 

was ascertained by the question: “Thinking back, afier your 

first menstrual period, when did you have sexual intercourse 

for the first time—what month and year was that’?” Women 

who were unable to recall the exact month and year were 

probed for a season and year, their age at first intercourse, 

and whether’ or not it occurred before or after the birthday 

for the given age. For women who gave ages or seasons 

rather than exact dates of first intercourse, dates were estimated for purposes of classifying timing in relation to marriage. Dates of first intercourse were then compared with 

the date of first formal marriage. Thus, women whose first 

intercourse occurred after initiating an informal mamiage 

were classified as having premarital intercourse. 

Marriage-registration area (MRAfiIn 1963, the marriage-registration area consisted of 35 States and the District 

of Columbia. It did not include Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, 

Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North 

Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, 

Washington, and West Virginia. The 1971 MRA consisted 

of41 States and the District of Columbia. Arizona, Arkansas, 

Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, 

Texas, and Washington were not included. Colorado was 

added to the MRA in 1979. Marriages performed in the 

MRA included 63 percent of the marriages registered in 

the United States in 1963, 81 percent in 1971, and 

79 percent in 1979. 

Symbols 

.-. Data not available 

. . . Category not applicable 

Quantity zero 

0.0 Quantity more than zero but less than 

0.05 

z	 Quantity more than zero but less than 

500 where numbers are rounded to 

thousands 

/f--’ * Figure does not meet standards of 

reliability or precision (more than 30-

percent relative standard error) 

# Figure suppressed to comply with 

confidentiality requirements 
Recent Issues of AdvanceDataFromV7talandHealthStatistics 

No. 106. Use of Topical Antimicrobial Drugs in Office-Based Prac- No. 103. Use of Services for Family Planning and Infertility: 

No. 

Hospital 

tice: United 

105. 

Discharge 

Diagnosis-Related 

States, 

Survey: 

1980-81 

United 

(In 

Groups 

preparation) 

States, 

Using 

1982 

Data 

(Issued 

From 

Jan. 

the 

18, 

National 

1985) 

United 

No. 

Dec. 

102. 

4, 

States, 

1984) 

Use 

1982 

of Contraception 

(Issued Dec. 20, 

in 

1984) 

the United States: 1982 (Issued o

No. 104. Fecundity and Infertility in the United States, 1965–82 

(Issued Feb. 11, 1985) 

Suggestion CMon 

National Center for Health Statistics, C. A. Bachrach and 

M. C. Horn: Marriage and first intercourse, marital 

dissolution, and remarriage, United States, 1982. Advance 

Data From VW and /-/es/th Statistics, No. 107. DHHS Pub. 

No. (PHS) 85-1250. Public Health Service, Hyatfsville, 

Md., Apr. 12, 1985. 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Public Health Service 

National Center for Health Statistics 

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Hyattsville, Maryland 20782 

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