More Women Having First Children At Younger Ages, CDC Statistics Show

Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Article Date: 05 Feb 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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The average age at which women are having their first child has declined for the first time since government records have been kept, according to recently released data from the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Wall Street Journal's "Work and Family" column reports. The average age at first childbirth in the U.S. declined from 25.2 in 2005 to 25.0 in 2006, the most recent year for which data are available. The shift was driven by a 5% increase in first births to women ages 20 to 24, the Journal reports. Although the one-year change "doesn't make a trend ... the study lends weight to anecdotal evidence that young women are tuning in more closely to their biological clocks," according to the Journal. Brady Hamilton, co-author of the study, said, "It's the first time it's ever gone down, and certainly that's noteworthy."

Steven Martin, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Maryland, said the rising number of Hispanic residents, who tend to begin having children at younger ages, and other factors also contributed to the change. In addition, the 4% increase in first births to young women ages 15 to 19, as well as the "sheer size of the baby boomlet generation," which is now entering its childbearing years, "may be skewing new mothers' mean lower age," the Journal reports.

However, there also is a shift in attitudes, according to some experts. Stephanie Coontz, director of research for the Council on Contemporary Families, said young women today feel less pressure to prove themselves in their careers before having children. Young women expect to have both a career and a family, if they choose, and to do so on their own timetables, Coontz said. According to the Journal, it is "unclear" whether the ongoing recession will affect any trend toward younger childbearing. Historically, average family size lowers during a recession, but the impact on age of first birth is less clear (Shellenbarger, Wall Street Journal, 2/4).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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