Teen Out-of-Wedlock Births and Welfare Receipt: The Role of Childhood Events and Economic Circumstances

Abstract

Using 20 years of longitudinal data on nearly 900 children aged 0 to 6 in 1968 (19 to 25 in 1987) from the University of Michigan's Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the authors measure the influence of family background, individual characteristics, economic resources (or the lack thereof), and the experience of particular disruptive family events on the probability that a teenager will give birth out of wedlock and subsequently apply for and receive welfare. The prior welfare participation of a teenage daughter's mother is an important focus in the analysis, which employs a bivariate probit model. Among the many findings of the investigators is that teenage daughters whose mothers have more education are less likely to give birth out of wedlock, that teens whose mothers received welfare are more likely to give birth out of wedlock and receive welfare themselves, and that teens who grew up in a home experiencing stressful events (e.g. parental separation, geographic moves) are more likely to give birth order of wedlock. (Contains 3 tables and 22 references.) (Author)

Adult Outcomes for Children of Teenage Mothers

“…By comparison, we know less on the intergenerational effects of teenage motherhood. One exception is the frequently cited pattern of repetitions of early births across generations: daughters of teen mothers are found to face significantly higher risks of teen pregnancy than daughters of older mothers (Presser, 1978;Card, 1981;Kahn and Anderson, 1992;An et al, 1993;Kiernan, 1997;Manlove, 1997;Haveman et al, 1997). But, as in the case of the literature on mothers, we generally do not know whether or not unmeasured family background heterogeneity overstates the consequences of teen fertility.…”

The early socioeconomic effects oftTeenage childbearing

“…Teen mothers tend to have worse socioeconomic outcomes than other women who delay childbearing (An, Haveman, and Wolfe 1993;Hofferth and Hayes 1987). Despite this evidence, it is still unclear whether these negative outcomes among teen mothers result from the incidence of childbearing per se or from the socioeconomic disadvantages these women faced before they became teen mothers.…”

Why is the Teen Birth Rate in the United States So High and Why Does It Matter?

“…A number of studies have documented the relationship between background A number of studies have documented the relationship between background disadvantage and rates of early childbearing (for example, Duncan and Hoffman disadvantage and rates of early childbearing (for example, Duncan and Hoffman 1990;An, Haveman, and Wolfe 1993;Lundberg and Plotnick 1995;Duncan, Yeung, 1990;An, Haveman, and Wolfe 1993;Lundberg and Plotnick 1995;Duncan, Yeung, Brooks-Gunn, and Smith 1998). Girls who grow up in poverty or in a single-parent Brooks-Gunn, and Smith 1998).…”