The socioeconomic consequences of teenage childbearing: findings from a natural experiment

Abstract

A study based on census data from 1970 and 1980 examines the socioeconomic effects of unplanned teenage childbearing by comparing teenage mothers whose first birth was to twins with those whose first birth was to a single infant. Among black women, an unplanned teenage birth--represented by the secondborn twin--results in significantly lower rates of high school graduation and labor-force participation and significantly higher rates of poverty and welfare recipiency. Ten years after giving birth, black women who have an unplanned child are also significantly less likely than women who have not to be currently married, but are not less likely to have ever been married. Like black women, white women who have an unplanned teenage birth have significantly higher rates of poverty and welfare recipiency; they also have significantly lower family earnings and household income.

PIP: In this study, randomly occurring twin first births are used to estimate the effect of unplanned births on specific outcomes (income, high school graduation, current or ever marriage, labor force, participation poverty, and receiving welfare), "unconfounded by differences in women's unobserved characteristics or ability to influence their outcomes." Cohort analysis was performed for births in 1966 and 1969, births in 1976 and 1979, and outcomes in 1970 and 1980. The research approach was based on methodology used by Rosenzweig and Wolpin, Logit models and linear regressions models were used in the estimation of impact. Data were obtained from the 1970 and 1980 Census on a sample of 904 mothers twins and 1836 mothers with a singleton first birth, born between 1952 and 1970 in the 1970 sample. There were 2028 mothers with twins and 3938 with a singleton birth first-born between 1962 and 1980 in the 1980 sample.