The name is absent

3% of families who started aged 31 or more. The cohort child at age 9 months were not
often themselves living with a step-father, but the minority who did so were most likely
to have mothers who started young. The minority of children living with their
grandparents is highest where mothers had their first child up to 18.

The indications, so far, of more lone mothers among the early mothers helps account for
their over-representation in disadvantaged circumstances summarized in table 3 showing
indicators of current economic position by age at motherhood. 67% of the current or
erstwhile teenaged mothers (up to 18) are estimated to be below the closest Britain has to
an official poverty line (60% of a national estimate of median net family income)
compared with 7.5% of those entering motherhood at or over 31. Another indicator of
the family’s financial circumstances is claiming at least one of the four means-tested
benefits that approximate the criterion used to stratify local areas in the sampling. This
puts 35% rather than 28% of the sample into the low income category, but there is still a
corresponding reverse gradient in the chances of claiming benefit as age of motherhood
rises. The mothers’ subjective account of their financial situation follows a similar
pattern. Overall just over one third of the mothers say they have some financial
difficulties, a proportion which falls with age of motherhood, but the age gradient is not
as steep as for claiming means-tested benefits. The youngest mothers are less likely to
say they experience financial difficulties (52%) than the claim means tested benefits
(76%). The latest mothers (31+) while less likely to report current difficulties than the
early mothers are more likely to claim subjective distress (25%) than means tested
benefits (12%).

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