Abstract
Recent increased concern with out-of-wedlock childbearing has centered on the deleterious consequences for the children involved. This concern revolves around the infant's experience of life in a single-parent situation. The standard definition of illegitimacy, however, reflects the legal concerns for the child and thus is quite restrictive. The US vital registration system considers a child to be legitimate if it was conceived or born while the mother was legally married. This broader definition indicates that nonmarital fertility is more prevalent in the older, better educated strata of the population than the legal definition has implied. -from Authors
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 677-693 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Population & Development Review |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1985 |
| Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Demography
- Development
- Sociology and Political Science