Thursday, July 18, 2002
Study reveals that out of wedlock children have parents still living in one roof
A story published by Daily Policy Digest reports that according to the
data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, the overwhelming
majority of children born out of wedlock have parents who are living
together or who are romantically involved or seeing each other regularly
which goes contrary to the general public opinion. Moreover, a majority of
unwed mothers and fathers say they are interested in marrying the other
parent and believe they have a 50 percent chance of doing so.
Eighty-three percent of unwed mothers reported being romantically involved
with the father at the time of the child's birth, and are either cohabiting
(50 percent) or seeing the other parent frequently each week (33 percent).
Seventy-three percent of unmarried mothers and 88 percent of the fathers of their children believed they had a 50-50 chance of marrying each other.
Eighty-four percent of the unmarried mothers and 93 percent of the fathers said they put the father's name on the child's birth certificate.
Researchers report that the expected marriages frequently do not occur.
They say programs to help unwed parents acquire the skills and support they
need for a successful marriage would be valuable.
