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Title: Testing the Opportunity Cost Hypothesis of Adolescent Premarital Childbearing
Resulting in 1 citation.
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Lundberg, Shelly Plotnick, Robert D. |
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Testing the Opportunity Cost Hypothesis of Adolescent Premarital Childbearing Presented: Toronto, ON, Population Association of America Meetings, May 1990. Also: Working Paper, University of Washington, 1990 Cohort(s): NLSY79 Publisher: Population Association of America Keyword(s): Abortion; Adolescent Fertility; Behavioral Differences; Child Care; Childbearing; Childbearing, Premarital/Nonmarital; Contraception; Family Planning; Fathers, Absence; General Assessment; Home Environment; Marital Status; Maternal Employment; Pregnancy and Pregnancy Outcomes; Racial Differences; Teenagers; Wages Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher. This study develops an empirical model of adolescent premarital childbearing which emphasizes the influence of opportunity costs. The model estimates determinants of premarital pregnancy, the choice to abort or carry to term, and whether a marriage occurs before the birth. The sample is from the NLSY. The long run opportunity costs are the effects of premarital childbearing on own future wages and welfare benefits. State variables on abortion and family planning policy and availability, which are proxies for the costs of abortion and avoiding pregnancy, represent short run costs. Young white women appear to systematically respond to differences in long run opportunity costs associated with different teenage fertility and marital outcomes. The long run wage measure has statistically significant effects on abortion and pregnancy outcomes that are consistent with theoretical expectations. Their behavior also is associated with welfare, abortion and family planning policy variables in directions consistent with an opportunity cost model of behavior. Black behavior shows no association with the opportunity cost or policy variables. This may be a function of sample size. It may also be that there are important unmeasured racial differences in the factors that influence fertility and marital behavior. |
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Bibliography Citation
Lundberg, Shelly and Robert D. Plotnick. "Testing the Opportunity Cost Hypothesis of Adolescent Premarital Childbearing." Presented: Toronto, ON, Population Association of America Meetings, May 1990. |