Researchers examining birthing trends in the United States have found that a huge number of parents who live together but are not married are having chidlren.
According to the study in 1985 9% of couples living together had a child out of wedlock while that number from 2003 to 2010 jumped to 27% of couples.
In comparison just 12% of couples had children out of wedlock in 2002.
Researchers blame a big part of the jump on the recession, according to the study’s lead researcher in an interview with USA Today. “I think it’s economic shock… Marriage is an achievement that you enter into when you’re ready. But in the meantime, life happens.”
The study also found that the number of unmarried fathers living with a partner jumped from 18% in 2002 to 25% from 2006 through 2010.
While the recession may be partly to blame for children out of wedlock part of the uptrend could be based solely on a new view of raising a family. While children out of wedlock use to be attributed mostly to high school girls and boys and high school dropouts new reports have shown that women with increasing education levels are becoming new moms.
As one Cornell sociologist states:
“You have women in that middle-educated group who want to start families and potentially don’t find themselves in a stable enough economic position to want to make the move into marriage… They’re kind of starting their families in a two-parent context, but outside the bounds of marriage.”
Societal trends continue to change, many women are even having babies on their own, relying on insemination over relationships. Now we just have to sit around and see if an improving economy will lower those numbers or if the shift in how we view families will change well into the future.
