Utah's moms: In some ways, motherhood is different here

Catana Benson is the typical Utah mom — literally. Statistics prove it.

She is from Saratoga Springs (part of the area that has the highest birthrate in Utah, the state with the nation's highest rate). She has three children (the average for Utah, which is also the highest in the nation). Among them are Jacob and Joshua (the No. 1 and No. 3 most popular names for boys). She was married at age 21 (average for Utah and also the lowest average marriage age in America).

Typically, she attended some college but dropped out for marriage and child-rearing. Also typically, she was a stay-at-home mom while her children were small. But, like most Utah mothers, she is in the labor force now that they are a little older — having started a job just two weeks ago.

But motherhood intervened there. "I just hurt my foot, so I'm trying to get some time off," Benson says. She hurt it in a water fight with her oldest son.

Her crowded days include helping children with dance or music lessons, taking them swimming, scrap-booking together or wondering where her younger son is hunting for lizards now. "I spend a lot of time trying to find him," she says.

While all this may be typical for moms in Utah, motherhood here differs from anywhere else in America.

Utah mothers have more children, get married younger and work less outside the home while children are small than in any other state. Utah also has one of the highest ratios for adopted children.

The state has among the lowest rates for births to unmarried women, teenagers and women living in poverty. It also ties for the nation's lowest abortion rate.

In short, Utah may come closer to the traditional view of motherhood than anywhere else in America. If Norman Rockwell were still alive and seeking models for paintings of traditional mothers and family life, he probably would look in Utah.

"We either rank No. 1 or No. 51 on about every key measure of child rearing and family formation," says Pam Perlich, a senior research economist for the University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Research.

"It certainly shows the value we place on children here and a conscious decision people are making to have children rather than to do other things," such as more fully pursue education or careers, she said.