OSU Study Pleases Dan Quayle More Than Murphy Brown

“It's more difficult for unwed mothers to get married, and if they do, they tend to not marry well,” said OSU sociology professor Zhenchao Qian, summarizing in one sentence his latest research study.

The findings:

Women who have children outside of marriage are less likely than other single women to marry, and when they do marry... mothers are more likely to have husbands who are significantly older and less educated than those of childless women.

...among never-married mothers slightly more than half -- 55.8 percent – were black, while about 10.3 percent are Hispanic.

[unwed mothers] are far more likely to live below the poverty line than married women. Over one-third of female-headed families with children live in poverty compared to only 6 percent of married couples with children.

Qian also suggests that Federal programs to promote marriage among low-income Americans should begin to address out-of-wedlock childbearing as well.