DETERMINANTS OF UNINTENDED CHILDBEARING AMONG EVER-MARRIED WOMEN IN THE UNITED-STATES - 1973-1988

A downward trend in unwanted childbearing has reversed among large segments of the population, according to data from the 1988 National Survey of Family Growth. The proportion of births in the previous five years that were unwanted at conception fell from 14 percent in 1973 to eight percent in 1982, but increased to 10 percent in 1988. Between the 1982 and 1988 surveys, increases were most pronounced among women with less than a high school education and among women living below the federal poverty level. Differences between black women and white women in levels of unwanted childbearing, which were converging prior to 1982, have since grown considerably, particularly among the poor and the less educated.