For example, in the 1900’s, the average peak age for men was 50 and 57 for females. Now men can expect to live up to 78 years old and 82 years for women. The survival rate in the 1900’s was extremely low and baby’s were not as likely to live past their first year. However babies that are born in this century are far more likely to live through 1 year of age and even better, a full life. Another reason which contributes to the decline of deaths is greatly improved public health.
More children are born in Britain today outside of marriage than in most other European countries. This has been linked to many explanations such as; poor education in sexual health and the lack of knowlege on different types of contraceptives. Nearly a quarter of children lived with only one parent (25%) last year and nine out of ten of these households were headed by mothers. Dennis and Erdos believe that is is down to most families being fatherless, meaning they automatically have poor health and lower educational attainment, however this is only one theory. Another main reason is the simple fact people are marrying later for many reasons, more because of the change in attitudes towards education and religion (seclurisation).
A change that has happened to childbearing since the 1970's is that over four in ten children are now born outside of marriage, which is five times more than it was in 1971. This means that more children are being born into lone-parent families or cohabilitating families. A reason for this is that there has been a huge decline in the stigma that used to be held over births outside marriage and also a increase in cohabiliatation. An example of this is that only one third of 18-24 year olds think marriage should come before parenthood, meaning that the rise in births outside of marriage is more to do with the increase in cohabilitating couples than it is to do with single parents. Another change that has happened in childbearing since the 1970's is that women are having fewer children and children later in life.
The death rate has fallen since 1900, which could be due to improvements in healthcare or the improved nutrition which has accounted for the reduction in death rates. However there are consequences for the decreasing death rate and one major consequence of this is the ageing population. The UK date rate refers to the overall number of deaths per year. In 2010, the death rates decreased to 493,242 which is a reduction of the death rate from 600,000 deaths per year in the early 1900s. There have been several reasons for the decline in death rate, and one of the reasons include the improved nutrition that the UK has achieved during the 1900s.
This means women now have the choice whether to have a family or have a career. This have resulted in women having their first child at a later age as they have chose to focus on their career. The age that women now have their first child has gone up from 24 to 27.3 since the beginning of the 20th century. Laws such as compulsory schooling and the child labour introduced in the 20th century has now introduced the idea that children are no longer an asset to their families but an economic liability. This means children are now expensive to have and people do not have the money to have as many children as they used too.
Vulnerable mothers that do not finish getting their education become discouraged and loose the motivation and drive to tackle the oncoming challenges that life brings, creating for them another barrier on the micro level; it being a financial barrier. “Poverty and economic loss diminish the capacity for supportive, consistent, and involved parenting and render parents more vulnerable to the debilitating effects of negative life events” (Vonnie C. McLoyd, 1990 p.311). Not being financially stable brings on a lot of stress that impacts the relationship between the mother and child. Education has a large impact on a person’s life and it can change it for the better.
According to N.L Tranter (1996), over three quarters of the decline in the death rate from 1850 to 1970 was due to a fall in the number of deaths from infectious diseases. Since deaths from infectious disease were commonest amongst the younger generations, it is not surprising that most of the decline in the death rate came from infants, children and young adults. This decrease in the death rate is part of what has led to a growing population in the UK. However, this is not the only reason for a decline in the death rate leading to an increase in the population in the UK. Thomas McKeown (1972) also points out that improved nutrition is also part of what has led to a decreasing death rate, he believes it is accountable for up to half the reduction in death rates.
She doesn't believe that the 50's should be taken 'literally' because from the 50's there were changes in values that caused racism and sexism discrimination against women. Many of the existing social problems could have been avoided or ignored. Racial conflict was intense in many places, but many suburbs were exclusively white. The poverty rate was higher than today, but at least it was falling. Teenagers had more babies than they do now, but access to good jobs-even with only a high school education-enabled young men to marry their pregnant girlfriends.
Every day more people die in America than are born. Any increases in population since 1972 have been due to immigration.2 The sociological perils we face are not those of population explosion, but population reduction. The Population Research Institute agrees, and concluded, “Our long-term problem is not too many children, but too few children.”3 The legalization of abortion resulted in a drastic reduction of the number of children in this country. By 1980 there were 6.5 million fewer school-age children in America than just a decade earlier. This required the closing of nine-thousand elementary schools.4 Legalized abortion has resulted in over 46 million fewer taxpayers in America to support the elderly.
Budget cuts to welfare programs are making it that much harder for the single mother to provide the necessities for their children because these supplemental programs are necessary to the day to day workings of a family. Single