Pathways to Nonmarital Birth in Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood

Chelsea Garneau, Auburn University
Raymond Petren, Florida State University
Patricia Roberson, University of Tennessee at Knoxville

Using latent class analyses we examined pathways to nonmarital birth during adolescence and emerging adulthood. NLSY97 data for those who reported a nonmarital birth between 1997 and 2001 were included, and pathways were determined using dichotomous indicators of family structure, parenting style, risky sexual behavior, early first sex, drug use, delinquency, and high school completion. Results indicated three distinct pathways to nonmarital birth in the sample representing high-, medium-, and low-risk trajectories. Results will be discussed in terms of future research on nonmarital fertility in adolescent and emerging adult populations in the United States.