College Attainment Linked to Babies Within Marriage

A study by Johns Hopkins University researchers has found that young women with a college education, when they have a baby, are likely to do so within a marriage, but that this is no longer the case for young women who lack a college degree. The study found that of mothers aged 26 to 31, 32 percent of those with four or more years of college had at least one baby while unmarried. Of mothers with one to three years of college, 67 percent had at least one baby unmarried. For those with only a high school diploma, 71 percent had a baby without being married. The figure was 87 percent for those without a high school diploma.