Spouses or babies? Race, poverty and pathways to family formation in urban America

Abstract

This article analyses the Urban Poverty and Family Life Survey of Chicago and an urban subsample of the National Survey of Families and Households to examine race and ethnic variation in the occurrence and consequences of birth versus marriage pathways to family formation. Results based on multiple‐decrement life table analysis and multi‐variate life table regression analysis reveal strong race and poverty effects on pathways to family formation, but Hispanic origin does not systematically influence the odds that women will enter family life via marriage versus birth. We show stronger race effects on pathways to family formation for the Chicago sample owing to the much higher incidence of teen parenting among black inner‐city residents. Results also suggest lasting economic consequences of non‐marital fertility, irrespective of whether women eventually marry or divorce subsequent to a premarital birth.

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