Marital status and cohabitation during pregnancy: relationship with social conditions, antenatal care and pregnancy outcome in France

Abstract

A survey of a representative sample of 5508 births in France in 1981 permitted the study of social characteristics of pregnant women, the medical care they received during their pregnancy and their pregnancy outcome, as a function of their marital status and whether or not they lived with the father of the child. Unmarried women living with the father (n = 412) like unmarried women living alone (n = 171), were more often younger, having their first baby and had a lower educational level than did married women living with the father (n = 4590). However, among the unmarried women, those living alone were in a more unfavourable position than those living with the father; in particular, they were more often less than 20 years old, had the minimum educational level required and were unemployed. Both groups of unmarried women had a higher preterm delivery rate than did married women, even after taking other risk factors into account in a logistic regression. The odds ratios (95% confidence interval) for pre-term delivery among unmarried mothers living without the father was 1.9 (1.0-3.4) and that for the unmarried cohabiting with the father was 1.6 (1.0-2.4). Thus, to fully appreciate the perinatal risks and medical needs during pregnancy, both the marital and cohabitational status of the women should be considered.

Marital status, cohabitation, and the risk of preterm birth in Europe: where births outside marriage are common and uncommon

“…This risk is particularly marked for births to women in the group of countries where births outside marriage are less common, in which the OR is 1.29 for cohabiting woman and 1.61 for single women. Although the OR is higher for single women, a χ 2 test did not reject the hypothesis of equality between the coefficients ( P = 0.13). In contrast, in the group of countries where births outside marriage are more common, the risk associated with a cohabiting or single status is not significantly different from 1.…”

“…The marital status of the mother has been identified in a large number of populations as a risk factor for preterm birth 1–7 …”

Declining health disadvantage of non-marital children

“…Children of unpartnered mothers fare worse than children of cohabiting mothers, although cohabitation is not as protective as legal marriage (Blondel and Zuber 1988;Doucet, Baumgarten, and Infante-Rivand 1989;Luo, Wilkins, and Kramer 2004;Shah, Zao, and Ali 2011;Young and Declercq 2010). Relationship characteristics seem to be responsible for the differences.…”

Primary predictors of preterm labour

“…Although all studies find that low socio‐economic status is associated with preterm birth, 1,3,4 it is difficult to isolate specific risk factors. While living alone is reported to be a risk factor for preterm birth by all studies taking it into consideration, 9,10 it may be considered a socio‐economic marker by some and a psychosocial marker by others.…”