CHANGING PATTERNS OF EXTRAMARITAL CONCEPTIONS IN THE CZECH-REPUBLIC, 1960-93

Patterns of reproduction associated with extramarital conception are e xamined using data on non-marital births, marital births occurring dur ing less than 8 months after marriage, and spontaneous and induced abo rtions experienced by unmarried women. Trends in the incidence and dem ographic outcomes of conceptions resulting from extramarital coitus ar e analysed by means of age-specific probabilities of becoming pregnant outside marriage; and of terminating such a pregnancy by abortion, by legitimating it through marriage before confinement, or by having a b aby while remaining unmarried. Substantial increases in the proportion of extramaritally conceived pregnancies leading to non-marital births are detected for the period since the late 1980s, and ascribed mainly to rising levels of unmarried cohabitation. The demographic effects o f the post-1989 transition from state to market economy are discussed.