Why are they so many single moms today when their weren’t many in the 1950s?

[Anonymous]

Did people have less sex or get divorced less?

[RespectfulGuy]

"Did people have less sex"

No I don't think so. Many couples those days have at least 10 kids. And my neighbour auntie told me she had 14 siblings.

Hence I think mankind's desire for sex has not changed.

"or get divorced less?".

Perhaps, but I think modern single mum are not merely divorced women.

For divorced women, many of her kids still know their fathers and could be granted regular visits.

Hence divorces mums are singles but not exactly alone kind of single.

Whereas for many single mums today, some may not know who the kid's father is, others may be a "hit and run" case where the child never sees the dad.

Such are the little, but critical differences between many divorce single mum and modern single mum.

And these becomes a social problem plus the kids of such mums may end up having future problematic relationship themselves, entering an endless loop of "single mum" issues.

[Dargil]

*The government welfare system effectively rewards women for having illegitimate babies. It punishes married or cohabitating partners.
*The decline of religion results is immoral behavior.
*Men are often poorly mentored by fathers and other men or raised by single moms, meaning men are less taught to be responsible men.

[LazerBean]

Back then promiscuous people were shamed, and now they are not.

[purplepoppy]

Less divorce back then but a lot more beaten and abused wives.

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

It's was pressured by society that once a man got a woman pregnant out of wedlock then he had to marry that young woman.

Not so much in today's world.

[JoeMichael67]

Divorce has been normalized. Back then divorce was considered a sin for the middle class.

[jahaims]

Different cultural and societal norms

[In_Trance]

divorce was not common then