According to O'Reilly-Green and Cohen (1993), delayed childbirth is a changing trend in parenting consisting of the decision to put off pregnancy until one is 35 years of age or older. This report examines the phenomena of delayed childbirth. The topics discussed in the paper include: factors influencing delayed childbirth; the advantages of delayed childbearing; the disadvantages of delayed childbearing; various pregnancy outcomes associated with delayed childbirth; and nursing interventions designed to assist mature women in increasing their chances of having healthy pregnancies and healthy babies.
Factors Influencing Delayed Childbirth
The National Center For Health Statistics (1999) reports that contemporary women are having fewer children and having them later in life than their mothers' generation. Overall, first births among women over 30 rose to a record 22 percent of all births in 1995, as opposed to 5 percent of births in 1975. Further, the birth rate for women aged 40 45 years rose 20 percent between 1990 and 1995, and increased 74 percent from 1981 to 1995. The rising birth rate along with the increasing number of women in this age group means that there were more babies born in 1995 to mothers in their 40s than in any year since 1966.
Papalia and Olds (1995) cite several factors for this delay in raising and rearing children. First, it is noted that more women now wish to finish their education before having their first child and so they are putting off pregnancy until they have at least graduated high school.
Second, the authors state that the general public notion of "the ideal age" at which to have a first baby has risen due to certain feminist and psychobehavioral views of child rearing roles and tasks. For example, certain feminist philosophies have strongly upheld the need for women to carve out a career for themselves and earn their own money rather than relying solely on their husband's income....