1 in 5 U.S. moms have babies with multiple dads, study says

[ewmon]

1 in 5 U.S. moms have babies with multiple dads, study says

 

One in five American moms have kids who have different birth fathers, a new study shows. And when researchers look only at moms with two or more kids, that figure is even higher: 28 percent have kids with at least two different men.

I don't think this is an April Fools joke, I just think it's stupid. The word "kids" is plural, and the define of plural is "two or more". Am I demographically/statistically/linguistically challenged, or what? Can one kid have two or more birth fathers and, if so, is it really this common?

[imatfaal]

I think its just badly phrased. A child cannot have more than one genetic father in the normal run of events - the figures given can be broken down as follows

 

20 percent of women who are a mother in US have more than one child AND have children with different genetic fathers.

28 percent of mothers with more than one child have children with different genetic fathers.

 

In the first phrase the population group is large (women who are a mother) - and has two conditions (more than one child) AND (more than one father)

In the second phrase the population group is smaller (women who have two+ children) - but it only has one condition (more than one father)

 

As the size of the group that meets the condition(s) is the same for both phrases - and the population size is smaller in the second then the second percentage must be bigger.

 

I hope I havent made the confusion worse

[Mr Skeptic]

Can one kid have two or more birth fathers and, if so, is it really this common?

 

Yes it is possible, in two ways:

1) More than one sperm could fertilize an egg. I think in humans that would be fatal, but that happens a lot in plant species.

2) A child can be a chimera, a fusion between two different zygotes (which would otherwise probably develop into fraternal twins). This happens rarely enough without the fraternal zygotes having different fathers as well.

[ewmon]

Imatfaal, I'm still not seeing a difference.

 

One in five (ie, ~20% of) American moms — have kids who have different birth fathers

 

[28% of] moms with two or more kids — have kids with at least two different men

 

The situations are identical (that is, plural kids and plural fathers), and only the percentage is different.

[imatfaal]

Imatfaal, I'm still not seeing a difference.

 

One in five (ie, ~20% of) American moms — have kids who have different birth fathers

 

[28% of] moms with two or more kids — have kids with at least two different men

 

The situations are identical (that is, plural kids and plural fathers), and only the percentage is different.

 

The group that meet the criteria are identical - agree. The populations from which this criteria-matching group are taken are not identical.

 

Thus the larger population will give a small percentage.

Edited April 5, 2011 by imatfaal

[ewmon]

Imatfaal, thanks, I must have forgotten to take my anti-stupid pill:

 

[20% of all] American moms have kids who have different birth fathers,

 

[28% of American] moms with two or more kids ... have kids with at least two different men.

Okay, so it must be that about 71.43% of moms have more than one kid, because 28% * 71.43% = 20%, and 28.57% of moms have one kid.

 

Thanks for your patience.