SUN Op-Ed: Motherhood before marriage

Motherhood before marriage

by Kathryn Edin

Originally published March 27, 2005

IN 1950, ABOUT one in 25 American children was born to an unmarried mother. Today, that rate is about one in three, usually to those least likely to be able to support a child on their own. This has led some to charge that the marriage norm is dead in poor communities.