Volume 22 - Article 27 | Pages 863–890  

Single motherhood and low birthweight in Spain: Narrowing social inequalities in health?

By Teresa Castro Martín

Abstract

Nonmarital childbearing is becoming an increasingly common path to family formation in Spain. The proportion of births to unmarried mothers has increased from 2% in 1975 to 30.2% in 2007. Along with this marked increase, there has been an important shift in the sociodemographic profile of unmarried mothers. This study focuses on the impact of mothers’ marital status on the health status of their newborns, using low birthweight as an indicator. We are interested in examining how the impact of mothers’ unmarried status on birth outcomes changes as nonmarital childbearing shifts from a marginal to a relatively common behaviour. The results of the analysis reveal that the health disadvantage gap between marital and nonmarital births has narrowed significantly over the past decade in Spain. We argue that diminishing selection processes and increasing social acceptance could explain the declining significance of marital status as a risk factor for low birthweight.

Author's Affiliation

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

Mixed marriages between immigrants and natives in Spain: The gendered effect of marriage market constraints
Volume 39 - Article 1

Change and continuity in the fertility of unpartnered women in Latin America, 1980–2010
Volume 38 - Article 51

Social policies, separation, and second birth spacing in Western Europe
Volume 37 - Article 37

Childbearing patterns among immigrant women and their daughters in Spain: Over-adaptation or structural constraints
Volume 37 - Article 19

Partnership formation and dissolution among immigrants in the Spanish context
Volume 35 - Article 1

The contributions of childbearing within marriage and within consensual union to fertility in Latin America, 1980-2010
Volume 34 - Article 29

The reproductive context of cohabitation in comparative perspective: Contraceptive use in the United States, Spain, and France
Volume 32 - Article 5

Is Latin America starting to retreat from early and universal childbearing?
Volume 20 - Article 9

Women’s changing socioeconomic position and union formation in Spain and Portugal
Volume 19 - Article 41

Not truly partnerless: Non-residential partnerships and retreat from marriage in Spain
Volume 18 - Article 16

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Advanced or postponed motherhood? Migrants’ and natives’ gap between ideal and actual age at first birth in Spain
Volume 49 - Article 22    | Keywords: actual age at first birth, age at arrival, fertility, ideal age at first birth, international migration, motherhood, Spain

Partial fertility recuperation in Spain two years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic
Volume 49 - Article 17    | Keywords: COVID-19, fertility, recuperation, Spain

An alternative version of the second demographic transition? Changing pathways to first marriage in Japan
Volume 49 - Article 16    | Keywords: cohabitation, first marriages, pattern of disadvantage, premarital children, second demographic transition, transition

Adult children’s union type and contact with mothers: A replication
Volume 48 - Article 23    | Keywords: cohabitation, intergenerational contacts, marriage

A register-based account of period trends in union prevalence, entries, and exits by educational level for men and women in Finland
Volume 48 - Article 14    | Keywords: cohabitation, divorce, education, Finland, marriage, register data, trends, union dissolution

Cited References: 68

Download to Citation Manager

Volume
Page
Volume
Article ID