Looking for Murphy Brown: An Analysis of College-Educated, Single Mothers.

Although most non-marital childbearing in the U.S. involves mothers with low educational attainment, a small but growing share of single mothers are college educated. The factors that explain non-marital childbearing may differ for this group of mothers since they are unlikely to be affected by lack of marriageable men, poor opportunities for women or welfare benefits, the causes often cited to explain non-marital childbearing generally. We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Survey, a longitudinal birth cohort study of 5,000 children born between 1998 and 2000, to evaluate three possible explanations for non-marital childbearing among the twenty percent of unmarried mothers who have some college education. The arguments about why these women become single mothers include the claims that they (1) feel pressured by their biological clocks, (2) hold negative views of marriage and men, and (3) have problems finding suitable marriage partners. We find some support for each of these explanations. We also find that the applicability of these explanations varies by race and ethnicity. All three explanations appear to have some merit for white, non-Hispanic mothers, among whom college education and single status are associated with placing less value on marriage as well as with increased odds of racing the biological clock and of having a male partner who has a major problem like drug addition or who does not treat the mother well. For highly educated African-American and Hispanic mothers, however, difficulty finding equally well-educated partners is the most persuasive explanation for non-marital childbearing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]