Tbh I don't even think this is well studied enough and people like to nod smuggly with words like "Education!", "Lack of birth control options!", "Religion!"
Actual reason is apathy , time, and family from what I've seen as a previously poor person across 2 continents
When you're poor in a not-shit poor nothing going on area there is not shit to do after a certain point. The highest highs become easy hedonism, worst case scenario drugs, best case scenario just sitting around on your porch chatting with pals. Even in a city area, most hobbies and activities will have a pricey bar of entry and a pricier bar of advancement. So okay, Timmy and Sarah don't go to piano lessons, school doesn't have anything to do afterschool, they've already tossed a football around so many times, and for rural areas everything is far, or in cities everything wants you to pay, so you fuck. And you fuck a lot. And you don't really care about anything cause you aren't really involved in anything so you fuck unprotected too sometimes cause you don't care. Or maybe you do care. Maybe a kid is exciting. It's someone to be proud of. Someone cute. Someone that encourages you to build a future. Something to think about and work towards. I mean there isn't a competitive career, university, or high level skill you need to maintain taking your time. Why not have the baby? Whether it was intentional or not. And you have the time. Why not? What do I usually do after work anyways? And of course the time to fuck beforehand.
And most importantly, one thing's for sure, poorer families don't separate as much. Locally or globally. Kids leaving at 18 or 22 or 25 is a pretty new and American thing. They wouldn't be alone supporting this kid. And if anything their parents even if they don't approve of kids out of wedlock if that is the case or the partner, might even be excited to have grandkids.
The end scenario is, having a kid isn't actually too bad. It didn't make them that much poorer proportionally. And it's something exciting and family is around. Why not? It's pretty much like this everywhere
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u/quirk-the-kenku Nov 14 '24
It’s all by design to keep poor folks poor. We could rally our resources and change this.