Ld. Macdonald et al., MARITAL-STATUS - ASSOCIATION WITH SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CIRCUMSTANCES, PSYCHOLOGICAL STATE AND OUTCOMES OF PREGNANCY, Journal of public health medicine, 14(1), 1992, pp. 26-34
We examined the association of marital status with economic, social an
d psychological factors and with the outcomes of pregnancy (defined as
onset of labour, type of delivery, live and still births and birthwei
ght). The study population was 1431 white women consecutively booking
for antenatal care. Birth registrations were inspected. Of 278 women w
ho were unmarried during pregnancy, 61 per cent were cohabiting, 26 pe
r cent were living with adults other than the father and 13 per cent w
ere living alone. Compared with the married women, unmarried women ove
rall were, on average, younger, less educated, of lower social class,
in poorer economic circumstances, more dependent on state support and
less satisfied with their living arrangements. Irrespective of age and
social class, they were less likely to have planned the pregnancy, mo
re likely to smoke and drink, to book later for antenatal care and to
miss more appointments. In general, unmarried women were more likely t
o have some indication of depression and to experience more serious li
fe events during the pregnancy. Controlling for age and social class,
the categories 'married', 'cohabiting' and 'on their own' showed signi
ficant trends from best to worst. Those living with adults other than
the father showed intermediate results. There were no significant effe
cts of marital status, controlled for age and social class, and associ
ated social, economic and psychological circumstances on outcomes of p
regnancy. Forty-one per cent of births to women on their own, 35 per c
ent to women living with other adults and 11 per cent to women cohabit
ing during pregnancy were registered by only one parent. It is possibl
e that a continuation of the poor quality of life observed among unmar
ried women during pregnancy could affect the later well-being of their
children.