Illegitimacy and Racial Differences in Attitudes Toward Marriage.

This study was conducted to test the following notions: (1) blacks are less committed to the norm of legitimacy and; (2) black women have less reason and desire than white women to marry--whether or not they are unmarried mothers. The data are drawn from a questionnaire administered to 704 obstetrical patients, 81 percent of whom were black. Separate comparisons were made for single and married respondents. Few of the blacks felt that illegitimacy is wrong, but black-white differences on this issue were small. However, the blacks (1) less frequently preferred marital childbearing; (2) more often held negative attitudes toward marriage in general; (3) less often felt that husbands they knew measured up on certain marital behaviors which they considered important; and (4) more often believed that men would rather be single than married. For all but the last of these four findings, the racial differences were greater for the single than the married respondees. Marital attitudes and preferences for marital childbearing appear to be factors in the lower-income black women's somewhat lower rate of ever marrying, and her much greater tendency to delay marriage until sometime after she has borne children. (Author/LKP)