Seattle lowest unwed motherhood rate in nation, and smartest city too

[seattlenextyear]

Originally Posted by strad

But the study lists the percentage of babies born to an unwed mother. Number of babies is irrelevant, as non-existent babies aren't counted in the study

From the article:

"Census data show in 2012, just 15 percent of Utah women who had given birth in the past 12 months were unmarried — less than half the U.S. average."

and

"Of the 75 largest U.S. cities, Seattle has the smallest percentage of births to unmarried women.According to the most recent census data, Seattle’s rate of non-marital births is, in fact, even lower than Utah’s – just 14 percent."

Oh ok, good catch.

[mufc1878]

IMO its a racial issue.

Washington DC is extremely well educated and has very high median income. The full census report even states this anomaly of DC not having a unwed pregnancy rate in line with the common explanatory variables of education and income.

One huge difference between DC and Seattle though is DC as a percentage has way more blacks (and maybe even more Hispanics) whereas Seattle as a percentage has way more Asians. Needless to say blacks and Asians are on the complete opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to unwed preg rates.

[mkarch]

Originally Posted by skidamarink

That's just in the city limits, I'm guessing. Pretty sure once you get out into the South King County and Snohomish Co suburbs those statistics change drastically.

Guess the point of the story is uneducated, unwed mothers can't afford to live in the city of Seattle?

That's been my experience. A lot of women leave. I'd guess in part because the reasons they chose to live in the city when single aren't as important once they decide to have a child alone - and paying that premium for something you won't have much opportunity to use doesn't make a whole lot of sense when baby is priority 1.

[west seattle gal]

Nothing wrong with being an unwed mother, however. Some women are divorced or in an unmarried partnership, others decided to have kids without a spouse (and can financially take care of them), and then some are gay (though gay marriage is now recognized in WA). Some kids just have fathers. What matters is that kids are loved, cared for and receive positive attention and there.

Just a Seattle PC reminder.

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by west seattle gal

Nothing wrong with being an unwed mother, however. Some women are divorced or in an unmarried partnership, others decided to have kids without a spouse (and can financially take care of them), and then some are gay (though gay marriage is now recognized in WA). Some kids just have fathers. What matters is that kids are loved, cared for and receive positive attention and there.

Just a Seattle PC reminder.

Good parents can be found anywhere and bad parents can be found in the most unlikely of places.

This story came out a couple of days ago where he is an ER nurse and she is a supervisor of the Dept. of Social Services and described as "one of the county’s top employees combating child abuse". A police officer found one of their children, a foster child, handcuffed and shivering on the porch with a dead chicken hanging around his neck - the story gets worse from there.

http://www.wcnc.com/news/crime/Sheri...232289971.html

[mkarch]

Originally Posted by west seattle gal

Nothing wrong with being an unwed mother, however. Some women are divorced or in an unmarried partnership, others decided to have kids without a spouse (and can financially take care of them), and then some are gay (though gay marriage is now recognized in WA). Some kids just have fathers. What matters is that kids are loved, cared for and receive positive attention and there.

Just a Seattle PC reminder.

Maybe the low % in Seattle is due to the hipster 20-somethings. Since unmarried mothers became mainstream it isn't cool anymore.

[DevanXL]

Originally Posted by skidamarink

That's just in the city limits, I'm guessing. Pretty sure once you get out into the South King County and Snohomish Co suburbs those statistics change drastically.

Guess the point of the story is uneducated, unwed mothers can't afford to live in the city of Seattle?

Those are the lump some statements that I hate. Yes, the outlying suburbs are cheaper to live in then the city of Seattle, which explains their demographics. But, as for someone who spent their entire life in Federal Way, people from Seattle seem to look down on South King County area in general. Almost like they think the entire area is composed or low end residential neighborhoods, and Sprawling Apartment complexes over run by crazies. This is not even close to true. One thing I love about the city is I have friends whose parents are Millionaire, and friends who live paycheck to paycheck. People from all backgrounds, culturally and economically. Something almost impossible to do in many other areas. Ofcourse this South King county isn't full of recent college grads, or the yuppy hipsters. So as a whole, they may not be "Smarter" then Seattle. But I hate when people say stuff like that. Almost like because you live in the Seattle city limits makes you above the members or your community who just don't live where you may live.

[skidamarink]

Originally Posted by west seattle gal

Nothing wrong with being an unwed mother, however. Some women are divorced or in an unmarried partnership, others decided to have kids without a spouse (and can financially take care of them), and then some are gay (though gay marriage is now recognized in WA). Some kids just have fathers. What matters is that kids are loved, cared for and receive positive attention and there.

Just a Seattle PC reminder.

I don't need to be an expert to know that lesbians and/or financially stable and very educated women who CHOOSE to be single mothers make up a very, very small percentage of the unwed mother statistic. Vast majority are young (under 30) women from poorer backgrounds and broken families. And they usually don't CHOOSE to be single mothers, it's something they're stuck with after the father bails While yes, it is possible to provide a child with positive attention and keep them healthy in such situations and there certainly are happy people who were raised by poor single moms, that is very difficult to do. I hate it to say it, but money really does matter in most cases. You know why poor kids are the most prone to obesity? Because a lot of times they have moms who are out working two or three minimum wage jobs (or in some cases it's the complete opposite and she's doing everything but working a job, which causes a plethora of other problems). By the time the woman can even get home, she's exhausted and the last thing she wants to do is cook a healthy meal for her kids. These women often don't know much about nutrition anyway. It's much easier and in some cases way cheaper to just give the kid $5 and tell them to go to McDonald's to get a full meal. Poor people are the easiest targets for fast food chains. I don't even need to go into detail about all the other pangs and dangers associated with growing up in poverty. These kids do not have an equal chance as a kid from a more financially stable background, by a long shot.

[RotseCherut]

Birth Control coupled with an asexual culture does wonders for lowering pregnancy rates. Seattle also probably lacks those high school and early teen romances that also result in bloating the teen pregnancy/single mother rates you would have in any other places in the country.

But, if you separate statistics by neighborhood, perhaps the results may change drastically. How many unwed mothers in South Seattle? Tacoma? Every person I meet in Tacoma has a kid from some other relationship, marriage, etc.