This report uses data from the Oklahoma State Department of Health to describe past trends and current patterns of nonmarital births in Oklahoma. Between 1975 and 1995, the percentage of unmarried women delivering a live birth in Oklahoma increased from 12% to 31%. Adult nonmarital births increased faster than teen nonmarital births, but teens had a higher percentage of nonmarital births. White rates increased faster than African-American and Native American rates, but African-Americans had a higher percentage of nonmarital births. Unmarried women who give birth were more likely to be poor and lack education; additionally, they were less likely to receive early prenatal care, more likely to have had low weight births, and more likely to have had an unintended pregnancy. Birth outcomes are poorer among unmarried women, but this may be due to poverty and education rather than marital status alone.
PIP: This study examined trends in nonmarital births during 1975-95 in Oklahoma. Data were obtained from the Oklahoma State Department of Health vital records and the Oklahoma Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System's annual surveys during 1988-95. Findings indicate that the percentage of unmarried women delivering a live birth in Oklahoma increased from 12% to 31% during 1975-99, a 158% increase. Nonmarital births rose from 5075 to 13,856. By 1995, almost one-third of births in Oklahoma were to unmarried women. Adult nonmarital births increased more rapidly than adolescent nonmarital births, especially among unmarried women aged 30-34 years. Most of the increase in older women with nonmarital births was from women who had nonmarital births as teens. Adolescents had a higher percentage of nonmarital births: 76% for women aged 15-17 years compared to 14.1% for women aged 30-34 years. White rates increased faster than African-American and Native-American rates (a 2.7-fold increase compared to 1.6- and 2.8-fold increases, respectively). African-Americans had a higher percentage of nonmarital births (69.2%) compared to White women (24.5%). Unmarried women were more likely to be poor and lack education and less likely to receive early prenatal care. 53.1% lived below the Federal Poverty Level. Unmarried mothers were more likely to have had a low-birth-weight baby and an unintended pregnancy. The percentage of nonmarital births in 1945 was only 3.4%, which means an 800% increase during 1945-95, a 50-year period of time. The state pattern followed a national pattern of increase.