4 in 10 U.S. children born in 2005 were out of wedlock

Beyond Belief

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Number Of Births To Teens Continues To Fall

ATLANTA -- Out-of-wedlock births in the United States have climbed to an all-time high, accounting for nearly four in 10 babies born last year, government health officials said Tuesday.

While out-of-wedlock births have long been associated with teen mothers, the teen birth rate actually dropped last year to the lowest level on record. Instead, births among unwed mothers rose most dramatically among women in their 20s.


The overall rise reflects the burgeoning number of people who are putting off marriage or living together without getting married.

http://www.wftv.com/family/10373247/detail.html
 
Well, at least it is nice to see TEEN births out-of-wedlock hitting a record low--girls are getting smart
 
Peter Hamilton said:
Well, at least it is nice to see TEEN births out-of-wedlock hitting a record low--girls are getting smart
OR...the guys are getting smart. Maybe BOTH guys & girls are getting smart. Remember, it takes TWO to tango....:cool:
 
Out-of-wedlock births have been rising since the late 1990s.

Several factors may be contributing to the trend, said Dr. Yolanda Wimberly, an adolescent-medicine specialist at Atlanta's Morehouse School of Medicine.

More women in their 30s and 40s, hearing their biological clock, are choosing to give birth despite their single status. Younger women are not as worried about being unmarried, either, she added.

"I think it's more acceptable in society" to have a child without getting married, she said.

Just because a mother is not married does not mean the father isn't around, Ventura noted. She cited 2002 statistics that showed that about 20 percent of all new mothers under 20 were unmarried but living with the father at the time of the birth. That same was true of about 13 percent of all new mothers ages 20 to 24.

According to census figures, the median age at first marriage was 27 for men and 25 for women last year, up from 23 and 20 in 1950. Meanwhile, the number of unmarried-couple households with children has been climbing, hitting more than 1.7 million last year, up from under 200,000 in 1970.

way more at link: http://www.websleuths.com/forums/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=80
 
Peter Hamilton said:
Well, at least it is nice to see TEEN births out-of-wedlock hitting a record low--girls are getting smart
:) I'd like to see all women get smart.No wonder marriage is at an all-time low...there's no reason for a guy to ask a girl to marry if she's already giving herself away.More women need to wise up !
 
JMO8778 said:
:) I'd like to see all women get smart.No wonder marriage is at an all-time low...there's no reason for a guy to ask a girl to marry if she's already giving herself away.More women need to wise up !


Keep in mind that more and more women are CHOOSING to have children alone because they can't find or don't want to find a Mr. Right. Through invitro fertilization, this is now a very viable choice more and more women are making. While I do not want children and I am married, if I were single at this time in my life (35), and I knew I wanted kids, I'd be signing on the dotted line at an invitro clinic, 'cause I'm getting to old to wait around for Mr. Right (or Mr. Not-So-Bad). :)
This study includes ALL women who are single having babies. (I've also known women who could not afford the invitro, but found an acceptable "donor" for a few nights. While this is NOT fair to the guys, women who don't have the $10,000/procedure but do have the money to raise a child are increasingly making this choice. Most of them don't even tell the guy.) :( There is usually no child support involved.
Don't shoot me for reporting this, please!
:truce:
 
Pandora said:
...(I've also known women who could not afford the invitro, but found an acceptable "donor" for a few nights. .:truce:
Do you want to know what *I* considered? I can't afford invitro, and I looked at my male friends and decided their kids were either unattractive or not intelligent, or had genetic family health issues... or even WORSE, would want a different kind of relationship with me! I have a friend who is in prison - never to get out - in perfect health, his family is wonderful and it would be easy to slip in a ziplock bag into the visitation room. He goes to the restroom with the bag, I go to the restroom with the bag - and instant baby. Sort of like a "disposable test tube" baby. :)

No man to deal with. No lying to a man. No potential custody case later on, no unacceptable visitation arrangements to have to deal with. Instant Grandparents on the father's side. :)

I almost did it, but decided I couldn't afford another baby right when my daughter is going to start college.
 
JMO8778 said:
:) I'd like to see all women get smart.No wonder marriage is at an all-time low...there's no reason for a guy to ask a girl to marry if she's already giving herself away.More women need to wise up !
Smart? Huh? I'm failing to follow the reasoning in this post...

I wouldn't want to marry a person I have never been initmate with. I wouldn't want a guy who asked me to marry him because I wouldn't have sex with him while we were dating. How am I giving myself away if I want to have sex without being married? Maybe I don't want to be married at all but I want to have a sex life.

There are 1001 different reasons that a person may choose to have a healthy sex life outside the bounds of marriage.

I too am happy to see teenage out-of-wedlock preganancies are declining. That's happy news.

And I do believe that more and more women are actively choosing to have children in non-traditional ways and outside the bounds of a partnerhsip. More gay couples are having children and I suspect those children would be considered "out of wedlock" for the purposes of this study so that probably effects the numbers as well.
 
GlitchWizard said:
I don't know her intent - but I agree women need to wise up. Don't marry someone for the wrong reasons - period.


I agree. Being pregnant is absolutely the worst reason to get married. Which is why when I found myself pregnant around 15 years ago I wouldn't even consider marriage. Best decision I ever made. I would have been divorced by the time my child was 3. Not having to go through that saved us both a lot of grief.
 
southcitymom said:
Smart? Huh? I'm failing to follow the reasoning in this post...

I wouldn't want to marry a person I have never been initmate with. I wouldn't want a guy who asked me to marry him because I wouldn't have sex with him while we were dating. How am I giving myself away if I want to have sex without being married? Maybe I don't want to be married at all but I want to have a sex life.

There are 1001 different reasons that a person may choose to have a healthy sex life outside the bounds of marriage.

I too am happy to see teenage out-of-wedlock preganancies are declining. That's happy news.

And I do believe that more and more women are actively choosing to have children in non-traditional ways and outside the bounds of a partnerhsip. More gay couples are having children and I suspect those children would be considered "out of wedlock" for the purposes of this study so that probably effects the numbers as well.
I agree,in general I'm saying that women aren't being asked for their hand in marriage as much anymore,b/c there is so much casual sex going on.No wonder marriage rates are down.I'm saying women need to stop letting themselves get used so much.Of course if that's what a woman wants,too,I don't have a problem with that.I'm speaking in general.Has nothing to do with babies out of wedlock or with sex bf marriage.I was single last yr for a bit,after being married for 21 yrs,and I learned a few lessons during that time...wayyyy too many guys just expect casual sex, and if women are going along with that so much,then wondering why marriage rates are down....geez.But I'm not against sex bf marriage or babies out of wedlock in general.It's about empowering women.
If I had just lived with my hub. in stead of getting married,I wouldnt have been entitled to nearly as much...for starters,I would have cheated myself out of the alimony that I needed,bc I still wanted to be a sahm and was still able to do that with the alimony.I would have still gotten the child support yes...but not much else.( I don't live in a common law marriage state,but I'm not saying it's all about money either).Overall it's about not settling for less than you deserve.
In general ,I think women nowdays are cheating themselves, on an emotion level for starters.This is just a good lesson I learned over the past yr.It just seems so many times we women are expected to feel so liberated in the name of being able to do whatever we want nowdays,but,what some women don't realize at the same time is that theyre cheating themselves out of what could have been so much more...I hope that makes sense.Again,nothing against sex bf marriage or babies out of wedlock.But,so many guys do get bored with a relationship where nothing is held in reserve.One the chase of the game is over...so many times,the home team loses.A book that helped me a lot last yr was dr dobson's 'love must be tough'.Don't settle for weak love...love should be strong !
It has nothing to do with religion either..so pls,everyone...don't turn this into something it's not ! I'm not going to debate at all...just putting a few thoughts out there.I hope it's empowering.I'm not sure some are getting what I'm saying... so pls don't assume !
A good thing lesson I learned in psych,maybe the most imprt one for relationships is .... people tend to want what they can't have.
What I'm saying is,I wish women would stop being so easy.They deserve so much more.
 
JMO8778 said:
I agree,in general I'm saying that women aren't being asked for their hand in marriage as much anymore,b/c there is so much casual sex going on.No wonder marriage rates are down.I'm saying women need to stop letting themselves get used so much.Of course if that's what a woman wants,too,I don't have a problem with that.I'm speaking in general.Has nothing to do with babies out of wedlock or with sex bf marriage.I was single last yr for a bit,after being married for 21 yrs,and I learned a few lessons during that time...wayyyy too many guys just expect casual sex, and if women are going along with that so much,then wondering why marriage rates are down....geez.But I'm not against sex bf marriage or babies out of wedlock in general.It's about empowering women.
If I had just lived with my hub. in stead of getting married,I wouldnt have been entitled to nearly as much...for starters,I would have cheated myself out of the alimony that I needed,bc I still wanted to be a sahm and was still able to do that with the alimony.I would have still gotten the child support yes...but not much else.( I don't live in a common law marriage state,but I'm not saying it's all about money either).Overall it's about not settling for less than you deserve.
In general ,I think women nowdays are cheating themselves, on an emotion level for starters.This is just a good lesson I learned over the past yr.It just seems so many times we women are expected to feel so liberated in the name of being able to do whatever we want nowdays,but,what some women don't realize at the same time is that theyre cheating themselves out of what could have been so much more...I hope that makes sense.Again,nothing against sex bf marriage or babies out of wedlock.But,so many guys do get bored with a relationship where nothing is held in reserve.One the chase of the game is over...so many times,the home team loses.A book that helped me a lot last yr was dr dobson's 'love must be tough'.Don't settle for weak love...love should be strong !
It has nothing to do with religion either..so pls,everyone...don't turn this into something it's not ! I'm not going to debate at all...just putting a few thoughts out there.I hope it's empowering.I'm not sure some are getting what I'm saying... so pls don't assume !
A good thing lesson I learned in psych,maybe the most imprt one for relationships is .... people tend to want what they can't have.
What I'm saying is,I wish women would stop being so easy.They deserve so much more.
Well put. I guess it just depends on what you want.

Bless your heart being back in the dating world after 21 years of marriage! My best friend is doing that after 12 years of marriage and it has been...interesting!
 
JMO8778 said:
:) I'd like to see all women get smart.No wonder marriage is at an all-time low...there's no reason for a guy to ask a girl to marry if she's already giving herself away.More women need to wise up !

Gee, I'd love to be wed to some guy who only married me because he couldn't get laid otherwise.

What a catch! :rolleyes:
 
Nova said:
Gee, I'd love to be wed to some guy who only married me because he couldn't get laid otherwise.

What a catch! :rolleyes:
Well you know that's not likely.You're not getting what I'm saying...women deserve more than to be used ! It's like the old saying that says,why buy the cow if you can get the milk for free?IOW,I think women give it up far too quickly nowdays,and that doesn't tend to help the relationship down the rd.
 
southcitymom said:
Well put. I guess it just depends on what you want.

Bless your heart being back in the dating world after 21 years of marriage! My best friend is doing that after 12 years of marriage and it has been...interesting!
Thank you,yes,interesting ..for sure ! LOL...times have changed a lot.
 
I'm 23 and single. In the past 6 months, I've gone out with I'd say 10 guys. Not one of them lasted, because when I wouldn't sleep with them right away, surprise surprise, I never heard from them again. I don't know where else to meet a decent guy. It really sucks. I'm not a prude or anything, I just think you should get to know someone before you sleep with them. Someday my prince will come...
 
This article is about children being born out of wedlock...read the heading


I don't think it should much matter if a child is born out of wedlock...

I think as long has that child has a loving mother and or / father...more power to them!!!!

I have a 3 yr old and was never married...me and my sons father split..we get along so much better now that we are not together...and he is very much involved w/ his son...

My son is loved just as much as if I were married to his dad or not..Regardless
 
OceanEyes said:
I'm 23 and single. In the past 6 months, I've gone out with I'd say 10 guys. Not one of them lasted, because when I wouldn't sleep with them right away, surprise surprise, I never heard from them again. I don't know where else to meet a decent guy. It really sucks. I'm not a prude or anything, I just think you should get to know someone before you sleep with them. Someday my prince will come...
Good for you! My friends who go out with different dates every weekend trying to get sex all have one of three things:

Empty Wallet
Broken Heart
Herpes
 
ajc2804 said:
This article is about children being born out of wedlock...read the heading
Yes, and others were discussing how guys today only want one thing. I'm sooo sorry for going off topic. Please forgive me. :rolleyes:
 
ajc2804 said:
This article is about children being born out of wedlock...read the heading


I don't think it should much matter if a child is born out of wedlock...

I think as long has that child has a loving mother and or / father...more power to them!!!!

I have a 3 yr old and was never married...me and my sons father split..we get along so much better now that we are not together...and he is very much involved w/ his son...

My son is loved just as much as if I were married to his dad or not..Regardless
While I am all about varied and uncoventional arrangements when it comes to raising happy healthy children, I do think it matters and is important to look at statistics such as children born out of wedlock. It tells us a lot about how our society is changing, shifting, evolving.

Plenty of women are chosing to bear and raise children without a partner these days. I don't have a problem with that generally. Some of the best moms I know are doing it solo.

I do think that it is usually easier on a number of levels - financially, emotionally, physically, spiritually - to have TWO adults raising the children.

I do have a problem with women bearing and raising children alone in certain instances. The pages of Websleuths are often filled with the bones of children raised in broken, impoverished homes by mothers who were incapable of filling that role.
 

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