Most first time, never-married mothers live with their parents, both before and after the birth of their child, but co-habitation with a male partner is on the increase, a Penn State study has shown.
Anastasia Snyder, a Penn State research associate, conducted the study as part of her doctoral dissertation research. She says prior to the 1970s, 57 percent of never married, single mothers co-resided with their parents at the time of their first birth. In the 1970s the figure dropped to 53 percent and in the 1980s to 50 percent.
The data on co-habitation show that before the 1970s, only four percent of never married single moms lived with a male partner at the birth of their babies. During the 70s the figure rose to 13 percent and in the 80s to 15 percent.
The youngest women and African American women were more likely to reside in the parental home rather than to co-habit. However, Snyder says, "Co-residence with parents has been and remains the most important living arrangement for all first time, never married mothers. In fact, the data show that if the woman is living with her parents at the time she becomes pregnant, she will most likely stay there after the birth of the child."
Snyder notes that the findings spotlight the increase in nonmarital child bearing and the changing composition of the American family. Previous research by others had shown that in 1993, 35 percent of all children under 18 lived with a never-married parent, she says, up from 4.2 percent in 1960.
Snyder presented her findings Sunday, August 8, at the American Sociological Association meeting here. Her paper is titled, "Living Arrangements at First Birth Among Never Married Single Mothers."
The study was based on data from the 1987/99 National Survey of Families and Households that included a sample of 1,053 never-married single mothers, two thirds of whom were teenagers at the time of their first birth. Snyder found that two thirds of the women lived in their parents' home while they were pregnant and 54 percent remained there at the time of their first birth. The majority of these women remained in their parental home for 30 months after their first birth, indicating that the parental home is a stable living arrangement for these women, she says.
Snyder notes that welfare reform now requires never married single mothers, less than 18 years old, to live with their parents in order to collect public assistance. However, even prior to the reform, a majority of them already did, the data show.
Snyder adds, "These findings concerning the living arrangements of never married single mothers are relevant to welfare reform because other studies have found that when single moms reside with their parents or co-habit with a male who may or may not be the father of their child, they are less likely to use public assistance than a single mother who lives on her own."
Approximately 78 percent of the co-habiting never married single mothers marry their male partner within two years of their first birth. However, if the couple does not marry within two years, the likelihood that they will do so decreases every year thereafter.
Snyder notes that some researchers have suggested that a co-habiting, unmarried man and woman with a child or children constitute a new form of the family and an alternative to marriage while other researchers have maintained that the arrangement is a precursor to marriage. Snyder says her data, along with other studies on cohabitation, suggest that co-habiting among this population can operate as both an alternative and a precursor to marriage. She adds that recent demographic trends -- delayed age at first marriage, the increasing prevalence of nonmarital co-habitation, and the high incidence of divorce -- put women increasingly at risk of a non-marital birth.
EDITORS: Ms. Snyder is at 814-863-7052 or at snyder@pop.psu.edu by email.