| Sumario: | A study was conducted to examine the influence of mate availability on the timing of young women's first marriage and first premarital birth. Data drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, the 1980 census, and information on subjects' secondary school were analyzed. Results reveal that the supply of available males in the local marriage market has a somewhat paradoxical impact on the likelihood of becoming an unmarried mother. For white women, a plentiful supply of eligible male partners in the local marriage market increases the rate of exit from the single, childless state, both by hastening entry into marriage and by encouraging nonmarital childbearing. For black women, the percentage of males in the local marriage pool who are employed speeds up the transition to marriage, whereas the percentage of males in secondary school significantly raises the probability of a premarital birth.
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