Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T03:24:20.498Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Starting a Family in Aberdeen 1961–79: The Significance of Illegitimacy and Abortion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Colin Pritchard  and
Barbara Thompson
Colin Pritchard
Affiliation:
MRC Medical Sociology Unit, Institute of Medical Sociology, Westburn Road, Aberdeen
Barbara Thompson
Affiliation:
MRC Medical Sociology Unit, Institute of Medical Sociology, Westburn Road, Aberdeen
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The age structure of the population of married women resident in Aberdeen District starting a family has changed over the last two decades. Since 1970, successive populations have tended to be smaller in numbers and older. These tendencies may, in part, be accounted for by couples delaying the start of family building and the related reduction in the proportions of legitimate first births which were prenuptially conceived. Although a feature of all social classes, the later ages and longer marriage durations are class differentiated, women of the higher social classes tending to be older and to have been married longer than those of the lower social classes. The increasing proportion of first pregnancies terminated relates closely to the decline in the proportion of single women, pregnant for the first time, who marry and bear a legitimate child. Although complete comparisons for Aberdeen and Scotland are not possible, the trends with respect to legitimate first births are similar.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , April 1982 , pp. 127 - 139
Copyright
Copyright © 1982, Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Dunnell, K. (1979) Family Formation 1976. HM Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
Ermisch, J. (1980) Women's Economic Position and Demographic Changes. Office of Population Censuses and Surveys Occasional Paper 19/1, pp. 37–63. HM Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
General Register Office, Edinburgh (1962–80) Annual Reports of Registrar General for Scotland 1961–79. HM Stationery Office, Edinburgh.Google Scholar
General Register Office, Edinburgh (1973) Census 1971 Scotland Aberdeen City. HM Stationery Office, Edinburgh.Google Scholar
General Register Office, Edinburgh (1979) Annual Estimates of the Population of Scotland 1978. HM Stationery Office, Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Gill, D. (1977) Illegitimacy, Sexuality, and the Status of Women. Basil Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Horobin, G. (Ed.) (1973) Experience with Abortion. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Macintyre, S. (1977) Single and Pregnant. Croom Helm, London.Google Scholar
Pearce, D. (1975) Births and Family Formation Patterns. Population Trends No. 1, pp. 6–8. Office of Population Censuses and Surveys. HM Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
Samphier, M.L. & Thompson, B. (1981) The Aberdeen maternity and neonatal data bank. In: Prospective Longitudinal Research. Edited by Mednick, S. A. and Baert., A. E.Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Thompson, B. (1977) Problems of abortion in Britain—Aberdeen a case study. Popul. Stud. 31, 143.Google ScholarPubMed
Thompson, J. (1980) A Generation Perspective on the Age at which Childbearing Starts. Population Trends No. 21, pp. 10–13. Office of Population Censuses and Surveys. HM Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar