Looking for Mr. Right?

Abstract

Between 1982 and 1992, the birthrate doubled among never married college-educated women and almost tripled among never married women who work in a professional or managerial capacity. This research examines why older, single women want to become mothers and how their premotherhood motivation and experience compare to those of married mothers. A snowball sampling technique was used to recruit 51 women who were single when they became mothers and 51 demographically similar married mothers. The two groups were alike regarding their motivation for becoming a mother, although the single mothers were more likely to have considered their marital status and other related factors (e.g., finances) prior to becoming a mother. The single and married mothers differed in how they viewed relationships with men. The composite picture that emerged from the single mothers was one of ambivalence toward marriage—a combination of an idealized image of what marriage should be with an unwillingness to accept compromise as an essential relationship strategy. Older, single women who become mothers are contributing to the trend in American society toward an increasing separation of marriage and childbearing.