OT: "The westernized world"

[Joel S. Berson]

At 6/11/2009 08:25 PM, Herb Stahlke wrote:
>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.

I'm not sure how true this is for the US.  My memory -- but I don't
have the original source -- is that the report was that many single
(that is, unmarried) mothers *are* in more-or-less long term
relationships with the father.

Joel

>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:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > 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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> >
>
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