Search Results

Title: Consequences of Teen Childbearing for the Life Chances of Children, 1979–2002
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Hoffman, Saul D.
Scher, Lauren S.
Consequences of Teen Childbearing for the Life Chances of Children, 1979–2002
In: Kids Having Kids: Economic Costs and Social Consequences of Teen Pregnancy, Second Edition. S. D. Hoffman, and R. A. Maynard eds. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute Press, 2008
Cohort(s): NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Urban Institute
Keyword(s): Adolescent Fertility; Age at Birth; Childbearing, Adolescent

"In part 2, Saul Hoffman and Lauren Sue Scher use data from the NLSY79 Young Adult Sample through 2002. These young adults were born between 1970 and 1981, 8 to 13 years later than those in the original analysis, and the outcomes, measured as of 2002, are substantially more recent. As such, the revised analysis provides far more timely information. The updated analysis shows that the daughters of young teen mothers are far more likely to become teen mothers themselves than if their mothers had delayed childbearing. After accounting for other risk factors such as family background and academic ability, it is estimated that a daughter's risk of having a birth would fall by almost 60 percent, from 33 to just 14 percent, if a would-be teen mother delayed childbearing until her early 20s. This translates into the potential to decrease the number of teen births by more than 27,000 a year. If these young teen mothers delayed their first births until age 20 or 21, it is estimated that their children's high school graduation rate would rise to 73 percent, an increase of 10 percent. Further, after adjusting for other risk factors, the children of young teen mothers complete an average of about a quarter-year less education, which means preventing teen births would result in an estimated 35,000 adolescents a year completing one more year of schooling than they otherwise would have. Most of the observed difference in high school graduation rates for children of older teen mothers compared with other children is attributable to factors other than teen motherhood. The estimates in this chapter suggest that high school graduation rates for the children of older teen mothers would increase by 1 percentage point if their mothers delayed their first births to at least age 20, and the graduation rates of younger teen mothers would remain about the same. Being the daughter of an older teen mother has a strong net effect, even after accounting for other risk factors such as family background and academic ability. If a young woman's mother delayed her own first birth to age 20-21, her daughter's risk of having a teen birth would fall by one-third, from 17 percent to 11 percent." (p.17)
Bibliography Citation
Hoffman, Saul D. and Lauren S. Scher. "Consequences of Teen Childbearing for the Life Chances of Children, 1979–2002" In: Kids Having Kids: Economic Costs and Social Consequences of Teen Pregnancy, Second Edition. S. D. Hoffman, and R. A. Maynard eds. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute Press, 2008