TABLE 1—

Characteristics of a Representative Population of Recent Mothers in Canada, by Cohabitation and Marital Status: The Maternity Experiences Survey, 2006–2007

	Cohabiting With Partner (n = 69 610; 96.1%)		Not Cohabiting With Partner (n = 6350; 8.4%)
Characteristic	Married (n = 51 220), % or Mean (SD)	Not Married (n = 18 390), % or Mean (SD)	Single, Never Married (n = 4940), % or Mean (SD)	Divorced or Separated (n = 1410), % or Mean (SD)
Women in total sample	67.4	24.2	6.5	1.9
Women within cohabitation group	73.6	26.4	77.8	22.2
Duration of cohabitation with current partner
Mean, y	6.4 (3.7)	4.3 (3.3)	…	…
≤ 2 y	13.3	34.6	…	…
3–5 y	32.1	34.8	…	…
> 5 y	54.6	30.6	…	…
Became separated or divorced in the year before baby’s birth	…	…	…	43.5
Maternal age at delivery, y	30.7 (4.6)	28.1 (5.3)	24.7 (6.0)	29.6 (6.1)
Primiparous,	42.1	49.5	60.7	29.3
Foreign-born	31.5	6.9	12.3	21.1
Ethnic/cultural identity
North American	27.3	58.5	25.4	28.6
European	39.2	24.7	36.3	33.1
Non-Western	24.2	8.0	23.3	22.7
Other	9.3	8.8	15.0	15.6
Maternal education
< high school	4.4	10.8	27.6	14.0
High school diploma	15.7	24.6	34.8	31.9
Postsecondary diploma	37.0	40.0	30.6	42.8
University diploma	42.9	24.6	7.0	11.3
Household income, Can $
< 20 000	4.6	8.3	44.6	42.1
20 000–49 999	23.6	34.2	23.7	35.1
50 000–79 999	29.3	29.2	9.3	10.3
≥ 80 000	37.6	24.7	3.0	4.2
Unknown	4.9	3.6	19.4	8.3
LICO status
Below LICO	13.5	19.3	55.1	58.7
At or above LICO	78.8	73.5	22.2	26.6
Unknown	7.7	7.2	22.7	14.7
Prepregnancy depression	13.6	18.0	24.7	19.7
Wantedness of recent pregnancy
Sooner or when it occurred	79.2	67.3	35.8	47.9
Later	15.3	26.2	43.8	27.8
Not at all	5.5	6.5	20.4	24.3
Partner disagreed with the recent pregnancy	1.7	4.1	22.9	22.8

Note. LICO = low-income after-tax cutoff. All data are presented as a weighted percentage unless otherwise specified.