WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- A provocative new study suggests women who have children out of wedlock have a harder time marrying than those who don`t -- and that those who do find a spouse often end up on the wrong side of a mismatch.
The findings suggest programs aimed at improving life for lower-income Americans need to focus on the issue of out-of-wedlock births, the study`s authors said.
'Women who bear children out of wedlock do not fare well in the marriage market,' said Daniel Lichter, a professor at Cornell University and a co-author of the study, which appears in the current issue of the journal Social Forces.
The unwed mothers are about 30 percent less likely to marry than to cohabit, compared to single women without children, the study found. And those who do marry are likelier to end up with an older, less educated, less economically advantaged spouse....
