Variation in Contraceptive Planning Status of Non-Marital Births by Age and Relationship Context

Sarah R. Hayford, Duke University

Although non-marital fertility continues to be associated with social disadvantage, an increasing proportion of non-marital births in the United States are higher parity births, births to older women, and births to cohabiting women. I examine variations in the planning status of non-marital births according to these characteristics to understand the place of non-marital fertility in family building. I use data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth to distinguish planned non-marital births from births that resulted from contraceptive failure and births resulting from non-use of contraception for reasons other than a desire to get pregnant. Multinomial logit analysis of these three categories shows that non-marital births to older women and women who are cohabiting at the time of conception are more likely to be planned births relative to either of the two other categories. The association between socio-economic status and the planning status of births is not statistically significant.