未婚先有子：收入失衡是主因

不论在哪国，在传统上都是要求先结婚后生娃。但是现在，越来越多的年轻人走上了未婚生妇的道路。据最近发表在《美国社会学评论》（American Sociological Review）上的一篇论文称，这在很大程度上是由收入不均而导致的。

该论文是由约翰霍普金斯大学教授安德鲁·J·切尔林领导的研究团队发表的。论文指出，许多年轻人，特别是没有大学文凭者，由于就业市场上的工作机会短缺，往往更倾向于未婚生子，这也是收入失衡的一个表象。

相当一部分年轻人不想在没有稳定收入的情况下组建家庭——但是他们依然想要孩子。

论文指出：“当地收入失衡的程度越大，男性和女性在要第一个孩子前结婚的比率就越低。之所以存在这种关联，在某种程度上，是由于当地缺乏能够支付贫困线以上工资的中等技能工作机会。”所谓的“中等技能”工作，是指那些不需要大学学历的工作，比如电工、建筑工、保安等。

这种现象也反映了美国中产阶层的人数正在缩水。不少工作因为计算机化和离岸外包而消失或转移了。与此同时，中产阶层的薪资水平也出现了下降——当然，这个现象并非美国所独有。而这也解释了为什么在此次大选中，一些党外人士和激进主义者也受到了如此之高的追捧。

有些社会学家也指出，收入失衡可能也会给居民带来一些其他影响。如马里兰大学经济学教授梅莉莎·科尔尼和威尔斯利学院经济学教授菲利浦·莱文认为，收入失衡加深了青春期女性的经济边缘化之感，导致她们对未来感到经济上的无助和绝望。

由于这些少女觉得她们未来的经济状况可能不会通过一份工作或婚姻而得到改善，因而她们可能会选择早一些生育子女，以便以后有工作机会时不至于错过。或许这就解释了为什么各州的长期收入失衡水平与青春期少女的未婚生子率相关。

在1997年到2011年间，切尔林及其团队一共研究了9000名对象，其间这些研究对象的年龄都在26至31岁之间。 （财富中文网）

译者：朴成奎

Tradition dictates marriage then children.But more and more young adults are headed for babies before the wedding, largely thanks to income inequality, according to a study published in the American Sociological Review.

Young adults, mostly those without a college degree, are more likely to have children before marriage due to a shortage of jobs in the middle of the job market—a symptom of income inequality, according to the study authored by a team of researchers led by Andrew J. Cherlin, a public policy professor at John Hopkins University.

And young people don’t want to enter a marriage without a stable income—though they still want children.

“The greater the local level of income inequality, the less likely men and women are to marry before having a first child—an association that appears driven in part by the lack of middle-skilled jobs that pay above-poverty wages,” the team wrote. These “middle-skilled” jobs are those that don’t require a college degree, including electricians, manufacturing, and security guards.

That comes as the middle class has become a shrinking force in the U.S. Some jobs have swept away by a wave of computerization and offshoring, while wages, in not only the U.S., have fallen for the middle class—explaining, for some, why party outsiders and radicals have gained such popularity this election cycle.

Other sociologists have also said that income inequality may have other effects on citizens. Melissa Kearney and Phillip Levine, professors of economics at University of Maryland and Wellesley College respectively, have argued that income inequality increases a teen girl’s sense of economic marginalization, and causes them to feel economic hopelessness and despair regarding their future.

As these girls come to believe their financial future cannot, or is unlikely to be, improved with a job or through marriage, they may also come to think that they won’t lose opportunities, such as having a job, by having children early. That may explain why long-term income inequality at the state level is associated with more births out of wedlock among adolescent girls.

Cherlin and his team studied 9,000 people between 1997 to 2011, when the participants were 26 to 31.