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Suggested Citation:"5. Marriage Among Pregnant Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
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Page 95
Suggested Citation:"5. Marriage Among Pregnant Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
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Page 96
Suggested Citation:"5. Marriage Among Pregnant Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
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Page 97
Suggested Citation:"5. Marriage Among Pregnant Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 98
Suggested Citation:"5. Marriage Among Pregnant Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 99
Suggested Citation:"5. Marriage Among Pregnant Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
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Page 100

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V. MARRIAGE AMONG PREGNANT ADOLESCENTS This section preser~ts information on marr iage among pregnant adolescents and adolescents who have a f irst birth in the United States. The focus is on the mar ital status of the adolescent female at conception, at birth and after birth. The data presented in the following tables are f rom the Current Population Surveys (CPS), the 1982 National Survey of Family Growth and the National Surveys of Young Women and Men (NSYW/M). They show that consistent with the decline in marriage among all teenagers, there has been an increase in the proportion of teenage women who remain unmarried after the birth of their child. These data permit compar isons by race but not by ethnic group. A-95 / 447

A-96 / 448 TABLE 5.1 Percent Of Males And Females Aged 15 to 19 Never- Married, By Race And Ethnicityl, 1960-1985 Males Females Year Category 15-17 18-19 15-19 15-17 18-19 15-19 1960 Total 99.1 91.1 96.3 93.2 67.8 83.9 White 99.1 91.0 96.2 93.3 67.6 83.9 Nonwhite 99.2 91.9 96.6 92.3 69.3 83.8 1970 Total 98.6 91.3 95.9 95.3 76.6 88.1 White 98.7 91.3 95.9 95.4 76.4 88.0 Black 98.0 91.0 95.5 95.0 77.7 88.6 Hispanic 97.7 87.4 94.0 93.1 70.6 84.7 1973 Total 99.2* 90.4 96.5* 96.2 75.8 89.6* White 99.1* 89.5 96.2* 96.2 74.4 89.1* Non-white 99.5* 95.6 98.4* 96.1 83.9 92.2* Hispanic n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 1976 Total 99.4* 91.9 97.0* 97.0* 78.3 90.8* White 99.3* 91.2\ 96.7* 96.8* 77.2 90.2* Black 99.6* 95.9 98.5* 98.1* 85.0 93.8* H ispanic 99.5* 92.7 97.7* 94.6* 74.9 87.1* 1980 Total 99.4 94.2 97.3 97.0 82.8 91.1 White 99.4 93 O 6 97.0 96.7 81.5 90.4 Black 99.4 97.7 98.8 98.3 90.9 95.4 H ispanic 98.5 92.2 95.8 94.6 79.2 88.2 1981 Total 99.2 95.7 97.8 97.2 84.7 92.0 White 99.2 95.4 97.7 96.9 83.4 91.3 Black 99.6 97.0 98.6 98.8 92.7 96.4 Hispanic 99.2 91.8 96.3 95.3 74.0 86.7 1984 Total 99.7 96.8 98.5 98.0 87.1 93.4 White 99.6 96.5 98.3 97.7 85.2 92.4 Black 100.0 98.2 99.3 99.3 97.2 98.4 H ispanic 99.0 93.5 96.8 95.7 79.1 88.8 1985 Total 99.7 97.1 98.7 98.0 86.7 93.4 Hispanic persons may be of any race and Black and White totals may include Hispanics. n.a. = not available *Includes males and females 14 years of age. Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, "Marital Status and Living Arrangements", CPR, Series P-20, 1960, 1970, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1981, 1984, 1985; Statistical Abstract of the U.S.: 1985, Washington, D.C., ~ 986.

A-97 / 449 TABLE 5.1 Table 5.1 presents the proportion of males and females never- married by race from 1960 to 1985 (breakdowns by race were not avail- able for 1985~. There was a gradual increase in the proportion of men who remained single until at least age 20 and a rather striking delay in marriage among young women. The percent of unmarried females aged 15 to 19 rose by about 11 percent and the percent of unmarried males aged 15 to 19 rose about 2 percent between 1960 and 1985. Most of this increase was for 18 and 19 year old women. The proportion of females who were single rose by 28 percent for 18 and 19 year old women. The increasing tendency to remain single was more dramatic for black females aged 18 and 19 than for white and Hispanic females aged 18 and 19. While the proportions of black and white 18 to 19 year-old females who were unmarried were similar in 1970, by 1984 the propor- tion unmarried was 12 percentage points higher among blacks. The pro- portion of Hispanic females 18 to 19 years old who were unmarried was consistently lower than for either whites or blacks, even though 8.5 percentage points higher in 1984 than 1970. The percent increase in the proportion of black females aged 18 to 19 was 25 percent compared to 12 percent for both white and Hispanic females.

A-98 / 450 TABLE 5.2 Percentage Of First-Born Babies Born to Mothers Aged 15-19, Conceived Either Maritally or Extra-Maritally, By Race, Age, and Marital Status at First Birth According To Birth Cohort Of Baby (numbers, in 1,OOOs, shown in parentheses) Birth Cohort of Baby 1950- 1955- 1960- 1965- 1954 1959 1964 1969 All Women Aged 15-19 (1,388) (1,739) (1,957) (2,112) Conce ived/born in wedlock 69.9 60.6 54.0 45.6 1970- 1975- 1980- 1974 1979 1981 (2,435) (2,061) (622) * 33.6 32.5 28.4 Conce ived/born out-of-wedlock 16.1 18.3 22.4 24.2 35.2 44.5 48.5 Conceived out-of wedlock/born in wedlock 14.0 21.0 23.6 30.4 31.2 23.0 23.1 White Women Aged 15-19 (1,120) (1,400) (1, 574) (1,633) Conceived/born in wedlock 77.4 68. 6 61.7 52.3 (1,746) (1,469) (500) * 42.7 41.9 35.6 Conceived/born out-of-wedlock 9. 4 10.6 13.7 14.5 20.2 30.3 36.8 Conceived out-of wedlock/born in wedlock 13.2 20.8 24.7 33.3 37.1 27.8 27.6 Black Women Aged 15-19 (251) (316) Conceived/born in wedlock 35.1 24.7 (343) (429) (641) (542) (141) * 18.9 18.9 8.9 6.6 3.5 Conceived/born out-of-wedlock 46.6 52.8 62.1 61.3 75.7 83.2 87.9 Conceived out-of wedlock/born in wedlock 18.3 22.5 19.0 19.8 15.4 10.1 8.5 *Data are incomplete for this cohort and may underestimate out of wedlock births. Source: M. O'Connell and C.C. Rogers, Family Planning Perspectives, Volume 16, No. 4, July/August 1984; Data are derived from June 1980 and June 1982 CPS.

A-99 / 451 TABLE 5.2 The percentage of first babies born to mothers aged 15 to 19, by race and marital status at conception, and at first birth by the birth cohort of the baby, is presented in Table 5.2. Data are from the Current Population Surveys (CPS). Overall, the percent of first-born babies conceived out of wedlock from 1980 to 1981 was more than twice the percent conceived out of wed- lock from 1950 to 1954 (72 and 30 percent respectively). Of the babies conceived out of wedlock from 1950 to 54, about one-half were born out of wedlock. In contrast, seven out of every ten babies conceived out of wedlock and born between 1980 and 1981, were born out-of-wedlock. This represents a tripling in the proportion of babies born to single teenagers (16 percent between 1950 and 1954 compared to 49 per- cent between 1980 and 1981~. Black teenagers were much more likely to both conceive and give birth out-of-wedlock than white teenagers. Almost two-thirds (65 percent) of all first births to black women aged 15 to 19 from 1950 to 1954 and over 96 percent from 1980 to 1982 were babies conceived out of wedlock. Out of those conce ived out of wedlock, seven out of every ten babies born between 1950 and 1954 and nine out of every ten babies born between 1980 and 1981 were born to single mothers. The increase in the percent of all first born babies conceived and born out of wed- lock to black women was almost 90 percent from 1950-54 to 1980-81 (47 and 88 percent respectively). In comparison, less than 25 percent of all first births to white women, between 1950 to 1954, but about two-thirds born from 1980 to 1981 were conceived out-of-wedlock. Prom 1950 to 1954 approximately 1 out of every 5 babies conceived out-of-wedlock was born out-of-wedlock; from 1980 to 1981, 3 out of every five premaritally pregnant white teens were still single at the birth of their first child. The propor- tion of all first born babies conceived and born out-of-wedlock to white women nearly quadrupled from 9 percent between 1950 and 1954 to 37 percent between 1980 and 1981.

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More than 1 million teenage girls in the United States become pregnant each year; nearly half give birth. Why do these young people, who are hardly more than children themselves, become parents? The statistical appendices for the report Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing provide additional insight into the trends in teenage sexual behavior.

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