A Psychoeducational Profile of the Unmarried Mother

Abstract

This study investigated certain factors associated with unmarried motherhood among white South African women. Subjects comprised all primigravida unmarried mothers (n = 88) delivering at the two major hospitals for whites in Johannesburg. They were matched for age, language, socioeconomic status, and religious background with 73 primigravida married women who delivered at the same time and place. The results of several questionnaires administered to subjects indicated that unmarried mothers had a lower educational and occupational status and more frequently came from broken families than their married counterparts. They were also found to have had greater difficulty with opposite-sex friendships in adolescence. The findings suggested a relationship between premarital pregnancy and social inadequacy. No differences between the groups were found in levels of depression, which were largely normal. Neither were there any differences in their sex education, which was generally found to have been minimal. The need for broad-based sex education programmes in schools is discussed. © 1990, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.