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Author: Turley Lopez, Ruth N.
Resulting in 2 citations.
1. Turley Lopez, Ruth N.
Are Children of Young Mothers Disadvantaged Because of Their Mother's Age or Because of Her Family Background?
Working Paper, Department of Sociology, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, October 2000
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: Department of Sociology, Harvard University
Keyword(s): Age at Birth; Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Family Background and Culture; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT)

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

While some studies have attributed the cognitive disadvantage of children born to young mothers to maternal competency and maturity level, this study suggests that maternal age per se is not an important predictor of children's outcomes because maternal age at subsequent births does not affect subsequent children. A controversial study by Geronimus et al. (1994) found that their disadvantage is not explained by mother's age but by her family background (as captured by the comparison of children born to sisters). This study extends their cross-sectional analyses and finds that maternal family background also explains the children's rates of cognitive improvement over time. Thus, family background is a more important preditor of children's outcomes than maternal age at birth.
Bibliography Citation
Turley Lopez, Ruth N. "Are Children of Young Mothers Disadvantaged Because of Their Mother's Age or Because of Her Family Background?" Working Paper, Department of Sociology, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, October 2000.
2. Turley Lopez, Ruth N.
Are Children of Young Mothers Disadvantaged Because of Their Mother's Age or Family Background?
Child Development 74,2 (March/April 2003): 465-474.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8624.7402010/pdf
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing, Inc. => Wiley Online
Keyword(s): Age at First Birth; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT)

Using a national sample of children 3 to 16 years old, this study found that the lower test scores and increased behavior problems of children born to younger mothers are not due to her age but to her family background. First, for nonfirstborn children, maternal age at first birth has a significant effect on test scores, whereas maternal age at the child's birth does not. Second, this study replicated a controversial study by Geronimus, Korenman, and Hillemeier (1994) and found that the disadvantage of children born to younger mothers is greatly reduced when maternal family background is controlled through a comparison of children born to sisters. Third, maternal age is not an important predictor of children's test score rates of improvement over time. This evidence suggests that maternal age is not causal.
Bibliography Citation
Turley Lopez, Ruth N. "Are Children of Young Mothers Disadvantaged Because of Their Mother's Age or Family Background?" Child Development 74,2 (March/April 2003): 465-474.