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SolarxPvP's avatar

I generally see single parenthood as a result of impulsive sex. While impulsive people may not listen to long term e.g. financial effects of unprotected sex on them or their children, they might more readily listen to social influences like peer pressure and their social image. Without the taboo of having premarital sex (in fact, it's glorified), they are more likely to have impulsive sex without contraceptives (it's more pleasurable, they forgot to buy some but want sex right now, etc.). Therefore, the single parenthood rate increases as those men flea their partners.

Think: kids are more impulsive than adults, but they seem to listen to their peers. They may not consider their health or future punishments from authority figures, but they'll listen to peer feedback and the effects of social influences. They'll do the bad thing if it makes them look cool even if they risk their well-being and punishment.

It also may have something to do with the women thinking their man won't leave them. Therefore, without social taboos against it, they have sex because they assume their man will stay and take care of the kids and assume they'll be together forever.

The man does it more often for the short term pleasure while some women do it because they are infatuated, want intimacy and romance, and impulsively think things will turn out for the best. Of course both things could be true for both genders (especially the pleasure part. In fact, both probably do it for the pleasure mostly, but the latter might explain some of it).

The social taboo might protect the more impulsive from making bad decisions. The success sequence says that you should (1) graduate high school, (2) get a full-time job, and (3) wait until marriage to have kids. 97% of people who do this escape poverty. The single parenthood rate obviously violates three and likely keeps poverty higher than it should be.

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Sam's avatar

Good post

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