RESUMEN
CONTEXT: Cohabitation provides a two-parent family union in which to have and raise children outside of marriage. Little is known, however, about the conditions under which cohabiting couples conceive and decide to have children. METHODS: The National Survey of Family Growth provides detailed data on the cohabitation and fertility histories of American women. Life-table techniques, event-history analyses and logistic regression were employed to understand the racial and ethnic differences in the timing of childbearing within cohabiting unions and whether childbearing within cohabiting unions is more acceptable to members of minorities than to whites. RESULTS: In multivariate models, Hispanic women were found to be 77% more likely than white women to conceive a child in cohabitation and black women were 69% more likely than white women to do so. Among women who became pregnant while cohabiting, Hispanic women were almost twice as likely and black women were three times as likely as white women to remain cohabiting with their partner when their child was born. In addition, children born to Hispanic women in cohabiting unions were found to be 70% more likely to be intended than were those born to cohabiting white women. CONCLUSIONS: In terms of fertility, cohabitation does not maintain the same place in the American family system for all racial and ethnic groups. These racial and ethnic differences in fertility-related behavior are not explained by socioeconomic differences. Based on levels of childbearing during cohabitation, relationship status at time of birth and intention status of children, it appears that cohabitation is a more acceptable arena for family building among Hispanic women than among whites or blacks.
Asunto(s)
Tasa de Natalidad/etnología , Toma de Decisiones , Servicios de Planificación Familiar , Padres/psicología , Esposos/etnología , Negro o Afroamericano/psicología , Negro o Afroamericano/estadística & datos numéricos , Demografía , Femenino , Hispánicos o Latinos/psicología , Hispánicos o Latinos/estadística & datos numéricos , Humanos , Masculino , Matrimonio/etnología , Matrimonio/estadística & datos numéricos , Embarazo , Esposos/estadística & datos numéricos , Estados Unidos/epidemiología , Población Blanca/psicología , Población Blanca/estadística & datos numéricosRESUMEN
CONTEXT: Despite widespread efforts to increase contraceptive use to prevent both pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases among sexually active adolescents, most prior work examining adolescent contraceptive use does not explicitly recognize that sexual decision-making inherently involves both partners in a couple. METHODS: An analytic sample of 1,593 females who first had intercourse during adolescence (prior to age 18) was drawn from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth. Logistic regression and multinomial logistic regression techniques were used to model the effects of sexual partners' characteristics and relationship type on contraceptive use at first intercourse and contraceptive method selected at first intercourse. RESULTS: Approximately 31% of respondents used no contraceptive method at first intercourse. Roughly half (52%) of adolescents who had just met their sexual partner used no method, compared with 24% of those who were going steady. Whereas 75% of teenagers who practiced contraception at first intercourse used a condom, 17% relied on the pill. In multivariate models, net of other variables, adolescents who had just met their partner had 66% lower odds than those who were going steady of practicing contraception at first intercourse. Individual-level factors that influenced contraceptive use at first intercourse were age at first intercourse, race or ethnicity family type, parents' education, grades in school and receipt of birth control education prior to first intercourse. Differences between respondents and their partner in age and race or ethnicity mostly were not significantly related to method use at first intercourse. One exception was that adolescents who first had sex with a man six or more years older had reduced odds of practicing contraception. Type of relationship was significantly associated with method selection only among adolescents who were just friends with their first partner, who had higher odds of using "other" methods rather than the condom. Variables associated with pill use rather than condom use were age at first sex, race, family type, mother's education and school grades. CONCLUSIONS: Further efforts to understand contraceptive choice among adolescents should focus on relationship features. Research on the decision-making process surrounding contraceptive use may benefit from treating this as a partner decision and not just as a decision made by one member of the couple. Further research examining the qualities of the relationship may provide important clues for understanding adolescent contraceptive choice.
Asunto(s)
Conducta del Adolescente/psicología , Coito/psicología , Conducta Anticonceptiva/psicología , Toma de Decisiones , Psicología del Adolescente , Parejas Sexuales/psicología , Adolescente , Factores de Edad , Conducta Anticonceptiva/estadística & datos numéricos , Etnicidad/psicología , Etnicidad/estadística & datos numéricos , Femenino , Encuestas Epidemiológicas , Humanos , Modelos Logísticos , Masculino , Análisis Multivariante , Psicología del Adolescente/estadística & datos numéricos , Grupos Raciales , Encuestas y Cuestionarios , Estados UnidosRESUMEN
Past studies of the transition to marriage generally have relied on information about only one individual or have attempted to measure characteristics of potential spouses indirectly. Drawing on data from the two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), we examine the effects of economic circumstances of both partners in cohabiting unions on the transition to marriage. Focusing on both partners in a relationship affords a more direct test of the relative importance of men's versus women's economic circumstances. Our findings suggest that only the male partner's economic resources affect the transition to marriage, with positive economic situations accelerating marriage and deterring separation. Our results imply that despite trends toward egalitarian gender-role attitudes and increasing income provision among women, cohabiting men's economic circumstances carry far more weight than women's in marriage formation.
Asunto(s)
Matrimonio/estadística & datos numéricos , Parejas Sexuales , Factores Socioeconómicos , Adulto , Empleo , Femenino , Humanos , Renta , Tablas de Vida , Modelos Logísticos , Masculino , Análisis Multivariante , Oportunidad Relativa , Factores Sexuales , Estados UnidosRESUMEN
The purpose of this article is to examine single-parent families headed by fathers. "We use specially constructed child files from the 1960-1990 Public Use Microdata Samples data from the Census of Population to address two general questions: (a) To what extent has both the likelihood and the demographic characteristics of these families changed over time? (b) What are the consequences for children of living in different kinds of father-only families? We find that single-father families are comparatively rare, but increasing rapidly, especially since 1980. Increasingly, these families are formed by fathers who are young, never married, with low incomes, and fewer children. Analysis of the 1990 data reveals wide diversity in living arrangements among children in single-father families. Furthermore, the social capital of children's fathers, the availability of adults, and children's economic well-being vary markedly across these types of families."
Asunto(s)
Niño , Demografía , Composición Familiar , Pobreza , Características de la Residencia , Persona Soltera , Familia Monoparental , Clase Social , Adolescente , Factores de Edad , Américas , Países Desarrollados , Economía , Geografía , Estado Civil , Matrimonio , América del Norte , Población , Características de la Población , Factores Socioeconómicos , Estados UnidosRESUMEN
Our study investigates the transition to first marriage among cohabiting black and white men and women, drawing on data from the National Survey of Families and Households. Our results underscore the importance of economic factors on the transition to marriage for both black and white cohabitors. We also find that for black cohabitors, but not for whites, socioeconomic disadvantage during childhood reduces the odds of marriage. The presence of children in cohabiting unions tends to increase the chances of marrying a cohabiting partner for both blacks and whites. Our results demonstrate the importance of including cohabitation in research on the marriage process.