OT: "The westernized world"

[Herb Stahlke]

I'm not sure the comparison between the rate of single mothers in the
US with that in Nordic countries is apt.  In this country much of
single motherhood arises outside of a long-term relationship.  In
Nordic countries there is a wide-spread practice of living together
and raising families without marriage.  In Sweden the term for such a
partner is "sam bo" [sAm bu], meaning "live with."  The term connotes
the same thing as "spouse," but without marriage.  Sometimes such
partners may raise a family and live together for decades before
formally marrying.  All births to such partnerships are out-of-wedlock
in a strict sense but not functionally.  One figure quoted in Sweden
is that only about ten percent of couples actually marry.

Herb

On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 2:21 PM, Joel S. Berson<Berson at att.net> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: OT:  "The westernized world"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 6/11/2009 12:51 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>A solicitation I just received asking support to those who seek to
>>"provide responsible sex education to teens" contains the following
>>passage:
>>
>>The US has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the westernized world.
>>But why? "Abstinence-only" programs censor, mislead and misinform
>>teens, creating ignorance and a lack of trust.
>
> OT, but although the US *may* have the highest teen pregnancy rate in
> the westernized world, the US does not have the highest rate of
> single mothers in the westernized world.  Some countries with higher
> rates are, if I remember correctly, Iceland, Sweden, Norway.
>
> Joel
>
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