Before we had a social net in the US a single mahm (it would have been a widow) only had whatever her/her husband's famblee would provide.
It is kind of weird to talk about why your generation isn't having brats when you have a brat. I've seen member of the Greatest gen, Boomers, and Gen X all struggle financially as single parunts because it is almost universal for single parunts to struggle financially.
This argument makes about as much sense as me talking about how Gen X doesn't buy luxury vehicles because they can't afford them while complaining/itemizing the costs of my Lamborghini.
Plus we know all generations have lots of people who have sluiced even under the most idiotic circumstances.
https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/ygo3f6/heres_why_millenials_arent_having_children/