Northeast Blackout of 1965 - The Myth of The blackout Baby Boom

The Myth of The blackout Baby Boom

A thriving urban legend arose in the wake of the Northeast Blackout of 1965, in which it is told that a peak in the birthrate of the blackout areas was observed nine months after the incident. The origin of the myth is a series of three articles published in August 1966 in the New York Times, in which interviewed doctors told that they had noticed an increased number of births.

The story was debunked in 1970 by J. Richard Udry, a demographer from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who did a careful statistical study that found no increase in the birthrate of the affected areas.

Read more about this topic:  Northeast Blackout Of 1965

Famous quotes containing the words myth and/or baby:

    Myth is the hidden part of every story, the buried part, the region that is still unexplored because there are as yet no words to enable us to get there.... Myth is nourished by silence as well as by words.
    Italo Calvino (1923–1985)

    Unless your baby becomes uncomfortable and tries to push away, don’t worry that you’re cuddling too much. That way, when she reaches adolescence and goes through a normal period of being terribly embarrassed even to be seen with you in public, you’ll have some memories to tide you over until she comes around again.
    Lawrence Kutner (20th century)