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Early Adulthood in a Family Context pp 185–207Cite as

Becoming a Parent: The Social Contexts of Fertility During Young Adulthood

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Part of the book series: National Symposium on Family Issues ((NSFI,volume 2))

Abstract

Using quantitative data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, as well as qualitative data from an in-depth study of low-income fathers in Philadelphia, this chapter describes the characteristics of young adults who transition to parenthood before 25 and the family contexts into which their children are born. Most births to young adults occur outside of marriage, but unmarried parents typically rally around the birth of their child, claiming a commitment to making their relationships work. Yet, the responsibility of providing for a family of their own before they have achieved financial stability proves to be an enormous strain for most. Perhaps because the children of young adults are seldom explicitly planned, and because economic hardship and parenthood strain even the most committed relationships, young parents break up at higher rates than couples who delay childbearing. Young parents who break up with their partners do not remain single for very long, however, and quickly enter into new romantic relationships, many of which produce additional children. The churning of romantic partners, and the birth of additional children who result, create a complex web of economic obligations and negotiations that complicate paternal access to nonresident children, compromise maternal parenting, and create unstable family environments for young children.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The National Survey of Family Growth 2006–2008 is based on a sample of the household population of the USA between the age of 15 and 44. Since June 2006, the NSFG has implemented a continuous survey procedure, in which interviews are done during 48 weeks of every year. Each year is nationally representative, and samples may be accumulated across years. The public use data file for 2006–2008 has a sample size of 13,495. For more information on the NSFG, please see the technical documentation at http://www.cdc.gov/NCHS/nsfg.

  2. 2.

    A majority of Hispanics in the NSFG are of Mexican origin.

  3. 3.

    Romantic relationships were likely even shorter than these figures suggest, because the question on relationship duration in the Fragile Families Study asked mothers, “how long have you known the baby’s father?,” not how long they were in a romantic relationship with the baby’s father.

  4. 4.

    Though these estimates are based on complete fertility histories (including miscarriages and terminations), none of these studies include men who had conceived but not fathered at least one child.

  5. 5.

    No representative survey we know of asks men whether they denied a pregnancy, but Edin and Kefalas (2005), in their in-depth qualitative study of 165 low income single mothers in Philadelphia, found that paternal denial occurred in only a small fraction – 9% – of women’s most recent conceptions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Kathryn Edin Ph.D.

  2. Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholars Program, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Laura Tach Ph.D.

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  1. Kathryn Edin Ph.D.
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  2. Laura Tach Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Kathryn Edin Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Justice, Pennsylvania State University, Oswald Tower 513, University Park, 16802, Pennsylvania, USA

    Alan Booth

  2. Bowling Green State University, 239 Williams Hall, Bowling Green, 43403, Ohio, USA

    Susan L. Brown

  3. Pennsylvania State University, Oswald Tower 601, University Park, 16802, Pennsylvania, USA

    Nancy S. Landale

  4. , Departments of Sociology and Demography, Bowling Green State University, 239 Williams Hall, Bowling Green, 43403, Ohio, USA

    Wendy D. Manning

  5. The Pennsylvania State University, 601 Oswald Tower, University Park, 16802, Pennsylvania, USA

    Susan M. McHale

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Edin, K., Tach, L. (2012). Becoming a Parent: The Social Contexts of Fertility During Young Adulthood. In: Booth, A., Brown, S., Landale, N., Manning, W., McHale, S. (eds) Early Adulthood in a Family Context. National Symposium on Family Issues, vol 2. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1436-0_12

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