isabel v. sawhill, generation unbound: drifting into sex and parenthood without marriage

Simply put, humans are bad at self-control. Given that so many women say they would like to wait longer before getting pregnant, why don’t those fertility goals become a reality?

Human Error: The Difficulty of Controlling Our Own Behavior Unintended pregnancy rates are especially high among disadvantaged women – the poor, the less educated, and minority women. Yet the five-year probability of a pregnancy using condoms is 63 percent, and for those using the pill, it is 38 percent. The most commonly cited reason for non-use of contraception among women who had an unintended pregnancy was : “I didn’t think I could get pregnant.” Women in the Fragile Families survey who had unintended births said something similar: “I simply wasn’t thinking.” A different study found that 44 percent of young women agree with the statement, “It doesn’t matter whether you use birth control or not when it is your time to get pregnant it will happen.” Taken together, these surveys suggest that many young Americans are drifting into pregnancy, without much thought or understanding of the risks. Only 5 percent of unintended pregnancies result from method failure. Most unintended pregnancies result from non-use or misuse of contraception. Misconceptions about Contraception and Fertility Why are so many women having trouble aligning their fertility behavior with their intentions? Most people are surprised when told how common unplanned childbearing is: 60 percent of all births to young, single women are unplanned. To read the previous pieces, click here: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) This piece is the sixth in a series of blog posts on Isabel Sawhill’s new book Generation Unbound: Drifting into Sex and Parenthood without Marriage.

Isabel v. sawhill, generation unbound: drifting into sex and parenthood without marriage