Unmarried mothers - comparative study

Precis: This study was designed to identify factors which might be associated with unmarried mother­ hood in Ireland. One hundred unmarried mothers and a control group of the same number of married mothers were interviewed by the author in the National Maternity Hospital, Dublin in 1973. The results of the study showed that there was no difference between the two groups in their family background or lifestyle but significant differences emerged in three areas (i.e., parental control of dating, attitudes towards premarital sexual intercourse and religious practice). nmarried mothers are of concern to people in very many societies — K^J partly because their behaviour threatens the almost universal norm of bearing children only within a marital relationship and also because they pose a complex problem for the medical and social services. Despite this concern and the fact that many agencies, both social and medical, cater for their needs, little of what is known about unmarried mothers in Ireland is based on scientific research. The author designed this research project to identify factors which might be associated with unmarried motherhood in Ireland.