Course Hero - We put you ahead of the curve!

You have requested the below document.

Coursehero >> Maryland >> Maryland >> ECON 412

412 Sociology (Martin) Lecture 14: November 3-5, 2008 Nonmarital childbearing, Part 1: Techniques for measuring nonmarital fertility Levels and trends in nonmarital fertility Proximate determinants of nonmarital fertility Single mothers explanations for not marrying Relevant reading: Casper and Bianchi Chapter 3: Pages 80-84. Edin, Kathryn. 2000. What do single mothers say about marriage? Social Problems 47(1):112-133. Why is there so much interest in nonmarital fertility? An obvious problem: a low ratio of caregivers to dependents. Nonmarital childbearing indicates a decline of the importance of family. Many nonmarital births are unintended or unplanned. There have been significant increases in nonmarital fertility over time. There are significant differences across groups. Why is there nonmarital fertility? Economic explanations: Decreasing earning power of young men. Increasing earning power of young women. Government support for unmarried mothers. Cultural explanations: Society is more permissive of women s nonmarital childbearing. Society is more permissive of father absence. Men value family bonds less than in the past. Society is more permissive of premarital sex. Measures of nonmarital fertility: Counts of nonmarital births It is relatively easy to count nonmarital births from vital statistics registries. Counts of nonmarital births in the US have increased from about 100,000 per year in the 1940s to about 1,600,000 per year today. However, this measure is not particularly useful because it does not control for the number of women of childbearing age at a particular time or in a particular group. Another measure: Birth rates per 1,000 unmarried US women age 15-44 By race and hispanic origin for the year 2001: Non-hispanic white: Non-hispanic black: Asian or Pacific Islander: Hispanic: All women: 27.5 68.2 21.2 87.8 43.8 Trends over time: White women Black women 1970 14 96 1993 36 84 rel. +157 % - 13 % How could trends in marriage rates affect these numbers for birth rates? Yet another measure: Percent of births out of wedlock: June 1998 CPS. Total: 32 % By women s age at birth: 15-19 20-24 25-29 86 % 47 % 20 % By women s race/ethnicity: nh white nh black asian/p.i. 22 % 67 % 19 % By women s educational attainment: not h.s. grad h.s. grad some college 60 % 38 % 26 % 30-44 11 % hispanic 38 % b.a. degree + 3% A proximate determinants framework for understanding nonmarital fertility. For a nonmarital birth to occur, the following events must take place: A woman is not married She has sexual intercourse She either does not use contraceptives, or she has a contraceptive failure. She becomes pregnant She does not have an abortion or a pregnancy loss She does not marry prior to the birth. Note that a change at any one step is sufficient to prevent a nonmarital birth. What does this mean for policies to prevent teen motherhood? The proximate determinants framework. Step 1: A woman is unmarried. Both delays and declines in marriage increase exposure to nonmarital fertility. A woman who intends to marry at a later age is still exposed to the risk of a nonmarital birth. Marriage rates of unmarried women 15 and older have fallen from about 80/(1000*year) in 1970 to below 50/(1000*year) by 1994. Step 2: She has sexual intercourse. Percent of US adults who have had sexual intercourse by age 18, by year of birth: 1933-42 1943-52 1953-62 1963-72 Women 32 % 30 % 48 % 58 % Men 43 % 48 % 57 % 61 % The proximate determinants framework. Step 3: She uses contraception. Over time, more unmarried sexually active women are using contraceptives. Fewer unmarried sexually active women are using nonhormonal and reversible contraceptive methods, although condom use is fairly high. Step 4: She becomes pregnant: Pregnancy rates are generally affected by frequency of sexual intercourse and by improved contraceptive use. Other healthrelated factors may be involved. The proximate determinants framework. Step 5: She does not have an abortion: Abortions are difficult to count, but total numbers of abortions are declining more rapidly than total numbers of pregnancies. Step 6: She does not marry between pregnancy and first birth. Percent of women marrying between conception and birth of first child: 1965-69: 52 % 1985-89: 27 % Note: many women now marry soon after a nonmarital birth. Using the proximate determinants framework. The proximate determinants framework can help policy makers plan policy by aiming at specific determinants instead of nonmarital fertility in general. A bad example: Federal monetary rewards to states that lower their nonmarital birth ratios. With respect to fertility, a proximate determinants framework can help us understand why some political disputes seem intractable. Example: Abstinence programs versus contraceptive education Perhaps declines in marriage reflect the spread of cultural misinformation about marriage. If so, the solution is to spread the truth about marriage The increased trend toward consensual partnering in the West, seen by many as an emancipation from rigid concepts of marriage, may represent a new enslavement rather than freedom for women. Jones, G.W. 1994. If marriage is beneficial, why do people remain unmarried? Perhaps poor people excessively discount future gains (from the writings of Gary Becker and others) If so, the solution is to hone people s rationality Perhaps people s preferences do not give enough weight to spouses and children (Popenoe) If so, we need to make cultural to changes straighten out our priorities. A new way to find out why women stay single: ask them. Advantages of case histories: Case histories provide richer information than surveys or censuses. Because of their less structured format, case histories can provide unexpected information and insights. Disadvantages of case histories: It is difficult to tell how well the sample represents the population it is drawn from (for example, in a snowball sample) Issues affecting the population of interest may be relatively meaningless to the rest of the population (for example, Sylvia Hewlett s book Creating a Life ) People may not have an objective, accurate perspective on what is happening in their own lives. General findings from a case study of low-income single mothers: To understand why more single mothers don t marry, Kathy Edin s research group spent time with 292 low-income single mothers in three U.S. cities. What issues do single mothers mention when asked what affects their marriage attitudes? Issues of trust Economic issues (affordability) Status issues (respectability) Sex role/power issues (control) Domestic violence 64 % 59 % 59 % 56 % 34 % Single mothers attitudes about trust All those reliable guys, they are gone, they are gone. They re either thinking about one of three things: another woman, another man, or dope my motto is there is not a man on this planet that is faithful. It s a man thing. I don t care, you can love your wife until she turns three shades of avocado green. A man is gonna be a man and it s not a point of a woman getting upset about it. It s a point of a woman accepting it. Men can say Well honey, I m going out for the night. And then they disappear for two months. Whereas the mother has a deeper commitment, conscience, or compassion If [women] acted like men our kids would be in the park, left. We d say Oh somebody else is going to take care of it. Everybody would be orphaned. Single mothers attitudes about economic issues It was like there was a struggle going on inside of me. I mean, he lost his job at the auto body shop when they went bankrupt and closed down. Then he couldn t find another one. Finally I couldn t do it anymore because it was just too much pressure on me even though he was the love of my life. I told him he had to leave even though knew it wasn t really his fault that he wasn t working. But I had nothing in the house to feed the kids, no money to pay the bills. Nothing. And he was just sitting there not working. I couldn t get him to stay working. [T]he kids would be hungry and I d throw a fit and he d have the nerve to tell me, Who cares? You re always over at your mother s, why can t you ask her for some food? Talk about a way to lose someone s respect. It s hard to love somebody if you lose respect Finally I couldn t take it and I made him leave. Single mothers attitudes about status I want to get married. I ve always wanted to get married and have a family. [My baby s father], he s doing pretty good, but I am not going to marry him until we get some land. [We ll] start off with a trailer, live in that for about 10 years, and then build a dream house. When we save up enough money to buy an acre of land and [can finance] a trailer, then we ll marry. I can do bad by myself Single mothers attitudes about sex roles and power If we were to marry, I don t think it would be so ideal. Husbands want to be in charge, and I can t deal with that. [Being a single mother is] great in terms of being independent. I m just thrilled being away from my ex-husband. The joy of that hasn t worn off. I feel freedom more freedom to be a parent how I want [to be.] We did not agree on parenting at all. One thing my mom did teach me is that you must work some and bring some money into the household so you can have a say in what happens. If you completely live off a man you are helpless. That is why I don t want to get married until I get my own career and get off welfare. Single mothers attitudes about domestic violence I married [my first husband] a month after I had [our son]. And I married him because I couldn t afford to live alone. Boy was that stupid. And I left him [two years later] when our daughter was five months old. I got scared. I was afraid because my kids were starting to get in the middle. [My son] still to this day, when he thinks someone is hurting me, he ll start screaming and crying and beating up on him I remarried six months later because I couldn t make it [financially] And I got into another abusive marriage. And we got separated before the year was even up. He would burn me [with cigarettes]. He was an alcoholic. He was a physical abuser, mental [too]. I think he would have killed me. The final page. 1.) Compare trends in birth rates for unmarried white women to trends in birth rates for unmarried black women. 2.) Using a proximate determinants perspective, describe six events that must take place for a nonmarital birth to occur. 3.) Use the proximate determinants perspective to explain how school health education programs that explain how to use condoms might either raise or lower the rate of nonmarital births. 4.) Kathryn Edin used case histories from poor single mothers to in an attempt to understand why single mothers often remain unmarried. Describe the types of explanations given by the single mothers (one sentence each). 5.) Discuss possible disadvantages of using the case history method to study social phenomena. Use specific references to Edin s study to make your points.

Find millions of documents here - Study Guides, Homework Solutions, Papers, Exam Answer Keys and more. Course Hero has millions of course related materials that will enable you to learn better, faster and get an A in all your courses.
Below is a small sample set of documents:

412lec080917.ppt
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 412 Fall, 2008

412lec081001.ppt
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 412 Fall, 2008
416.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 416 Fall, 2008
156_Edited SAES-422 Wording.doc
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 422 Fall, 2008
424.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 424 Fall, 2008
hatch Sociology 424 syllabus.doc
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 424 Fall, 2008
425.0201.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 425 Fall, 2008
HW 9 - Commodity Report.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 435 Fall, 2008
Loreau.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 442 Fall, 2008
ECON 454 Midterm Exam.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 454 Fall, 2008
ENCE 470 syllabus.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 470 Fall, 2008
601quiz05.doc
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 601 Fall, 2008
PUAF 611 spring 2007.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 611 Fall, 2008
611.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 611 Fall, 2008
burke611notes.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 611 Fall, 2008
Syllabus-616-2005.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 616 Fall, 2008
Econ621_Spring2002_Mid.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 621 Fall, 2008
621_Sol_PS7.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 621 Fall, 2008
Econ621_Fall2003_Mid.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 621 Fall, 2008
Econ621_sol_PS6_fall2006.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 621 Fall, 2008
problemset6-solution.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 622 Fall, 2008
623 syllabus 08.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 623 Fall, 2008
EDHI 630- Spring 08- Klees.doc
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 630 Fall, 2008
EDPL 662-Spring 2008-Fries-Britt.doc
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 662 Fall, 2008
664-Cabrera.doc
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 664 Fall, 2008
Econ 681 Syllabus Fall 2008.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 681 Fall, 2008
709hmwk09answers.doc
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 709 Fall, 2008
722 Terrorism & Democracy Syllabus- Aug 19, 2005.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 722 Fall, 2008
722 Fall 2004.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 722 Fall, 2008
EPJB-17-723-2000.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 723 Fall, 2008
notes-741-1.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 741 Fall, 2008
741.lecture_aids__2003.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 741 Fall, 2008
SYL742-03.doc
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 742 Fall, 2008
742 Environmental Ethics Spring 2004.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 742 Fall, 2008
743 Ecological Economics Spring 2006.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 743 Fall, 2008
743 Spring 2005.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 743 Fall, 2008
LN_1_2005.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 754 Fall, 2008
Syllabus_Econ 757.pdf
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 757 Fall, 2008
FORAGING.PPT
Path: Maryland >> ECON >> 878 Fall, 2008
280.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 280 Fall, 2008
301.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 301 Fall, 2008
372a.mcg.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 372a Fall, 2008
385.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 385 Fall, 2008
410.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 410 Fall, 2008
411.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 411 Fall, 2008
EDCI 431 Reu.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 431 Fall, 2008
433.688.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 433 Fall, 2008
433.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 433 Fall, 2008
443.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 443 Fall, 2008
455-651.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 455 Fall, 2008
463.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 463 Fall, 2008
467.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 467 Fall, 2008
488b.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 488b Fall, 2008
488L.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 488l Fall, 2008
495.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 495 Fall, 2008
611 syllabus 2004 McDonald .doc
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 611 Fall, 2008
631.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 631 Fall, 2008
EDCI 633 Stein.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 633 Fall, 2008
633.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 633 Fall, 2008
636.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 636 Fall, 2008
638.peercy.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 638 Fall, 2008
640.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 640 Fall, 2008
650.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 650 Fall, 2008
650.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 650 Fall, 2008
662.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 662 Fall, 2008
663.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 663 Fall, 2008
663.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 663 Fall, 2008
670.Levin.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 670 Fall, 2008
673.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 673 Fall, 2008
EDCI 680 Katz.pdf
Path: Maryland >> EDCI >> 680 Fall, 2008