The Premarital Fertility Behavior of Black and White Women in the United States.

Although birth rates for both black and white unmarried women in the United States have risen since 1940, the rates for black women have consistently been much higher. This dissertation examines differences in the premarital fertility behavior of black and white women aged 15-24, using as its main source of data the 1982 National Survey of Family Growth. The first question which is addressed is why premarital fertility rates are so much higher for black women than for white women. To answer this, a Bongaarts-type aggregate model of premarital fertility is developed, to assess the relative importance of four proximate determinants in inhibiting the premarital fertility of black and white women: (1) the abstinence from sexual activity, (2) contraceptive use and its effectiveness, (3) induced abortion, and (4) marriage which legitimates premaritally conceived children. This study finds that black women differ from white women in each of the proximate determinants in ways which result in lower premarital fertility rates for whites. However, racial differences in the levels of premarital fertility are found to result mainly from differences in the prevalence of premarital sexual activity and in the incidence of marriage which legitimates premaritally conceived children. The second question which is addressed in why there are racial differentials in the proximate determinants of premarital fertility. To answer this, individual-level analyses (logit and multiple classification analyses) are done to determine how the effects of factors which are hypothesized to influence different aspects of premarital fertility behavior differ by race and age. The study finds that although controlling for racial differences in all the explanatory factors has little effect on racial differentials in premarital fertility behavior, controlling for only social, economic, and demographic factors, such as socioeconomic background and family structure, almost always reduces the racial differentials, particularly for teenagers. Cultural characteristics, such as religiosity, age at first date, and communication between parents and daughters about sex-related issues, keep the racial differentials smaller than they would otherwise be.PhDDemographyUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/161227/1/8702711.pd