The Socioeconomic Consequences of Teen Childbearing Reconsidered / Arline T. Geronimus, Sanders Korenman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Geronimus, Arline T.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Korenman, Sanders.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w3701.

NBER working paper series no. w3701

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Teenage pregnancy--Economic aspects.

Teenage pregnancy.

Teenage mothers--Economic conditions.

Teenage mothers.

Poor teenagers--Social conditions.

Poor teenagers.

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1991.

Cambridge, Mass. : National Bureau of Economic Research, 1991.

Summary:

Teen childbearing is commonly viewed as an irrational behavior that leads to long-term socioeconomic disadvantage for mothers and their children. Cross-sectional studies that estimate relationships between maternal age at first birth and socioeconomic indicators measured later in life form the empirical basis for this view. However1 these studies have failed to account adequately for differences in family background among women who time their births at different ages. We present new estimates of the consequences of teen childbearing that take into account observed and unobserved family background heterogeneity, comparing sisters who have timed their first births at different ages. Sister comparisons suggest that previous estimates are biased by failure to control adequately for family background heterogeneity, and, as a result, have overstated the consequences of early fertility.

Notes:

Print version record

May 1991.