A study of selected unwed mothers in northeastern Illinois who have received agency care

Abstract

This paper is a study of unwed mothers in Chicago who were residing in two Catholic homes for unwed mothers. An attempt was made to correlate this study with similar ones done in California by Dr. Clark E. Vincent. The unwed mothers were administered a questionnaire in which questions concerning age, health, birth order, religious affiliation, education, parents' occupation, parents' marital relationship, parent-child relationships, and sex information were asked. Some of the findings included: (1) 36 per cent of the unwed mothers were under 16; (2) 32 per cent had more than 11 years of schooling; (3) 62 per cent of the unwed mothers were Catholic; (4) 64 per cent of the unwed mothers were Caucasian; (5) 90 per cent of the unwed mothers attend church at least once a week; (6) 36 per cent of the unwed mothers had their first date before they were 15 years old; (7) 6 per cent of the unwed mothers had never had a date in high school; (8) 66 per cent of the girls had gone steady in high school; (9) 14 per cent reported difficulty in making friends with the opposite sex; (10) 76 per cent of the unwed mothers felt confident or very confident in associating with the opposite sex now; (11) 50 per cent of the unwed mothers reported that they received "A" or "B" grades in high school; (12) 46 per cent of the unwed mothers had received sex information from their parents. Information regarding the unwed mother's parents was also obtained.