Biloxi newspaper - 78% of births are to single moms.

[leftyladyfrommo]

A friend of mine has the Biloxi paper mailed to her and I saw this figure. That really is staggering. I think the national figure is about 51% and that seems really high to me.

Maybe that is the reason that the number of abortions is down - it's become so socially OK to have a child out of wedlock that single women don't feel like they need to have an abortion. Of course the downside of all of this is that children born to single moms generally get less of everything in life.

So, see. Who needs sex education in schools? What a completely dumb idea that is. (sarcasm just in case someone actually thinks I'm serious.)

[JonQ]

1. That's remarkably high

Even the national figure is too high. This probably will piss off some people, but kids born to single mothers are shown to be at a significant disadvantage (looking at their income, education level, propensity towards criminal activities, etc later on in life). So this is a very concerning trend. I'm sure there are a plenty of single mothers who do a great job, and plenty of kids from single mothers that end up doing just fine, but on average it's a major disadvantage.

Maybe cheaper birth control/abortions (via subsidies) should be considered.

[spinbaby]

5. The moms don't necessarily stay single

A trend I've noticed among my kids' friends (late 20s) is baby first, then marriage. I don't know if it's a larger trend.

:shrug:

[JonQ]

7. True

it's unclear what they were using to find that statistic. If they were just checking if the woman was single at the time of conception I could see it being that high. I would hope though they did more than that, otherwise it's kinda of misleading.

I'd be interested in seeing what criteria they used for this study, the sample size, was there any sampling bias, etc.

[Igel]

16. Usually they use birth certificates/registrations.

Numbers are up for a few reasons in the last few years, one of them being that some older unmarried women are having kids. It's unclear if all of those kids are at the same disadvantages, but their family income is still, on average, lower.

The rate's still too high, and exceeds 50% in some lesser advantaged communities.

Haven't seen the last year's stats. I probably don't want to.

[dixiegrrrrl]

14. Blame Palin..

She was pg when she married Todd.
Says so in The Enquirer.
I got my souvenir copy couple weeks ago.

[Occam Bandage]

2. That's an unfortunate figure. I'm a fan of two-parent households.

[Oregone]

4. I always prefered 3 parents, a cat, and a crusty old uncle households.

Sometimes a disgruntled grandparent thrown in can help.

[Occam Bandage]

6. I reject your cat,

as both dogs and birds are inherently superior.

[EFerrari]

3. The best indicator of a woman's poverty in old age is single motherhood.

:(

[leftyladyfrommo]

11. It just makes everything so much harder.

I would think that kids today would really be careful about contraception. Its so important to their futures and to the futures of all these kids who are going to be at a disadvantage right from the very start.

[RadicalTexan]

8. Among my "peers" they're not necessarily accidental pregnancies to economically disadvantaged moms

A lot of people my age, including me, don't particularly want to get married. Women who live with a stable partner, even with joint homeownership, etc. (not to mention however many lesbian couples there are in Biloxi), will be counted as "single mothers" in these statistics, am I right?

I think there is a general trend away from legal marriage, in addition to the greatly diminished social stigma against unwed motherhood and "alternative lifestyles."

So I don't think this is necessarily, just based on the unwed status of the mothers, a reason for dismay. I kind of view it as progress for women that this is even possible.

Of course, there are still a LOT of women who are abandoned by their partners or husbands, and it's no progress for them. I'm only speaking about the white, college-educated, liberal women I know, who don't necessarily see marriage as a goal or achievement.

[chaplainM]

9. If this trend continues,

we will soon begin to see children born with no parents at all.

[leftyladyfrommo]

10. They would probably be better off. n/t

[JonQ]

12. Heh

reminds me of the figures proving that at some point the 110% of the US population will be obese.

[SoCalDem]

13. Times have changed, haven't they?

Sadly, many YOUNG women cannot find men they want to marry, or who want to marry them.

Very young couples almost cannot "make it", in financial stress like we have now, and single mothers of young children are about the only people who can still get financial help from a government..

I'm guessing that many, if not most of these "unwed" mothers DO have a man in their lives, but the minute they "legalize" their union, the aid stops.

AFDC ...AID to FAMILIES with DEPENDENT CHILDREN, has been morphed into an agency that usually only helps single mothers, so is it any surprise that there are more single young mothers?

and at the other end of the spectrum are the OLDER mothers who, after years of trying tp "find the right one" to marry & have a family with, have just decided to go it alone, and raise kids on their own. SOME women have the adequate income and family support to do it, so why not?

[CottonBear]

15. I am an older, single mother-to-be. I am a professional woman with my own assets and property.

We won't get married (anytime soon at least) for a variety of personal financial and tax liability issues. We were both previously married, he has grown children, we both own property and we both have debt and other large financial obligations that the other should not and cannot assume, which would happen if we were to marry. We both had to pay out significant amounts of money to our former spouses in order to obtain the divorces. It cost me one half of my yearly salary to get rid of my ex-husband. Most of the cost was legal fees and only one quarter was the payment to the ex. I had to protect my assets. If we were to marry, it would be akin to roping ourselves together to an anchor and jumping into the ocean. We drag each other down and loose everything.

It is a much more complicated, financially speaking, situation than that of two single, young people with no real property, no retirement plans, no investments and/or other financial assets and with no other children from previous relationships.

edit: We would like to get married someday, but it we can't, at least at this present time, because of the possible severe financial repercussions to both of us.