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Unmarried Childbearing: Fragile Relationships, Costly Consequences
Prepared for The Community Foundation, June 2008
Overview
The research provided in this report is presented to The Community Foundation and others who may read it to inform and perhaps influence further discussion and the development of possible solutions. It focuses on the nonmarital birth ratio, which compares the proportion of births to unmarried mothers to all births, and has become one of the most closely watched social indicators in the country. These fragile families typically have less education and lower income, and their children are at significantly higher risk for poverty, social and behavioral problems, school failure and drop out, and teen pregnancy. Improving outcomes for these families will require changes at the societal as well as community levels.