The Young Mother

One out of every two first-time brides in the U.S. is still in her teens.

More and more of them are having babies before they are 20.

So reports Washington's Population Reference Bureau, in an analysis of recent marriage trends. The number of teen-age wives who had babies rose from 47% in 1950 to 53% in 1959 (the latest year for which detailed birth and marriage statistics are available), and the percentage of teen-age wives with two or more children increased during that same period by close to half--from 11% to 16%.

Commented Robert C. Cook, president of the Population Reference Bureau: "Today, more women marry in their 18th year than in any other; more have their first child in their 19th year than in any other.

At this rate, the 38-year-old grandmother will soon be a commonplace. Our pattern of age at marriage and parenthood is now close to that which prevailed in the early years of the nation's history."

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