MARITAL-STATUS - ASSOCIATION WITH SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CIRCUMSTANCES, PSYCHOLOGICAL STATE AND OUTCOMES OF PREGNANCY

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.