Children Born Outside of Marriage Increasing in Women Under 30 - East Idaho News

Children Born Outside of Marriage Increasing in Women Under 30

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Getty H 112410 SickNewborn?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1329584893126Photodisc/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — More than half of the children born in the United States to women under the age of 30 are born out of wedlock.

A December report from Child Trends shows that while 59 percent of mothers of all ages were married when they had children, children being born outside of marriage has been steadily rising, reports the New York Times.

Demographics of unwed mothers shifted from minorities and the poor to white women with some college education. The racial disparities, however, persist with 73 percent out of wedlock births for black women and 53 percent for Hispanics compared to 29 percent born to white women.

The changes have been attributed to changing societal views with women living with their partners and not marrying.

“More than one-half of all nonmarital births occur to couples who live together in one household, but are not legally married. In fact, much of the increase in nonmarital childbearing since the 1980s reflects a shift from births to married couples to births to cohabiting couples, rather than an increase in births to women who are either in dating relationships or are single,” according to the report.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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