OT: "The westernized world"

[Herb Stahlke]

What I wrote may be reflecting the fact that the town of 9000-odd that
I live in has the highest single (female) parent family incidence in
Indiana, as well as one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy.

Herb

On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 10:24 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 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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