Unwed Maternity: A Study of Socio-Cultural and Medical Factors Among One Hundred Forty-Eight Unmarried Mothers Admitted to the Maternity Ward of the St. Vincent’s Hospital of the City of New York in 1963
Abstract
Motherhood outside of marriage is neither unique nor peculiar to our time, age culture. Maternity in itself is a necessary human function for the perpetuation of mankind. It is the fulfillment of a woman’s biological and social function; it is a happy event especially if it occurs within the bounds of legal and moral traditions of society. In our culture, the perpetuation of society is vested in the family, which is established and protected by legal, moral, and religious sanctions. It is considered as the stabilizing force in the lives of children. Unmarried motherhood, therefore, poses a problem because it threatens this concept of family. Married or not, an expectant mother has her duties and responsibilities as well as her joys. Her adjustment to the coming of her child involves many factors; physical, medical, psychological and social. Maternity care, therefore, is concerned with every aspect of family life and health. It requires the integrated services of related professional disciplines from obstetrics to the social services. If the expectant mother is unmarried, the social implications of pregnancy become even more complex.
Subject Area
Social research|Social psychology|Social work
Recommended Citation
Carino, Rosario C, "Unwed Maternity: A Study of Socio-Cultural and Medical Factors Among One Hundred Forty-Eight Unmarried Mothers Admitted to the Maternity Ward of the St. Vincent’s Hospital of the City of New York in 1963" (1964). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI30670818.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI30670818
