Browsing by Subject "Unmarried mothers"
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Item The baby will come, the ring can wait : differences between married and unmarried first-time mothers in Chile(2010-12) Salinas, Viviana; Potter, Joseph E.; Osborne, Cynthia; Hopkins, Kristine L.; Regnerus, Mark D.; Roberts, Bryan R.The proportion of children born outside of marriage in Chile increased from 15.9 percent in 1960 to 64.6 percent in 2008. Similar increases have been taken elsewhere as indicative of a Second Demographic Transition (SDT). In this dissertation, I study differences between married and unmarried mothers in Chile and the reasons why such a large proportion of children are born outside of marriage, with the goal of understanding whether the demographic changes we are observing in the country are part of a global movement towards the SDT. The data comes from a postpartum survey implemented in Santiago, the capital city. I analyze differences between women according to the family arrangement they live in, including married women in nuclear households, married women in extended households, cohabiters in nuclear households, cohabiters in extended households, visiting mothers, and single mothers. I consider women’s socioeconomic wellbeing, emotional wellbeing, social support, attitudes and values, and reproductive health. The results show large demographic and socioeconomic differences, marking the socioeconomic advantage of married women in nuclear households, who are the oldest, and the disadvantage of cohabiters in extended households, visiting and single mothers, who are the youngest women in the sample. Married women in extended households and cohabiters in nuclear households are between these two poles. Differences in emotional wellbeing exist, benefiting married women in nuclear households, but they are not so large. Differences in social support continue delineating married women in nuclear households as a privileged group, but visiting mothers appear as a highly supported group too. There are not large differences in attitudes and values, as most women continue holding conservative attitudes on family issues, and most unmarried mothers plan to marry. Differences in reproductive health are large, showing that unplanned births and contraceptive failure are high in the underprivileged and youngest groups. Unmarried women seem to accept their pregnancies with no pressure to marry, and to give priority to other goals, such as their careers and homeownership, before the wedding, which they do not discard for the future. Under these circumstances, it is hard to interpret recent demographic changes in Chile as a SDT.Item Comparison of Effectiveness of Vocational Education for Pregnant Teen-agers With and Without Employment(Texas Tech University, 1973-05) Christiansen, Merry GoochNot Available.Item Ego strength and conflict in unwed mothers(Texas Tech University, 1970-08) Dickinson, Mary LeeNot availableItem Non-marital fertility among Mexican American women: exploring the role of social context(2004) Wildsmith, Elizabeth Maxfield; Raley, R. Kelly; Powers, Daniel A.The fundamental aim of this dissertation is to determine why a large proportion of Mexican American women are more likely to begin their ‘pathway’ to family life with a birth rather than with marriage. I use the 1995 NSFG and the NSFG-CDF to explore the relationships between background characteristics, social context, and non-marital fertility among Mexican American women testing hypotheses drawn primarily from two bodies of research; one that focuses on the high levels of non-marital fertility among African American women, and one that focuses specifically on ‘cultural’ characteristics and the unique social experience of Mexican Americans in the United States. One of the most important findings in this dissertation is that race/ethnic differences in non-marital fertility vary by socioeconomic status, being larger among women of higher SES. The story behind these differences varies as well. Among women of lower SES, higher fertility within cohabiting unions explains much of the Mexican American/White difference in non-marital fertility. This is not the case for women of higher SES. Analyses using the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, further exploring the meaning of cohabitation, suggest that cohabitation may serve as a surrogate marriage for women of Mexican origin, though this is less the case for Mexican American relative to Mexican born women. Social context matters too, and, as is the case with Black women, where Mexican American women live is associated with their relatively high non-marital fertility. However, it is the structural characteristics of both the broader (county) and more local (census tracts) contexts that appear to be important. Additionally, while both contexts were important for women of higher SES, only the more localized measures were important for women of lower SES. This suggests that socioeconomic status in part determines the structural opportunities a person has access to. Ultimately, Mexican American nonmarital fertility is likely shaped by their Mexican heritage as well as by their minority status which results in a distinct pattern of behavior, one that is unique from both Mexican and mainstream U.S. cultures.