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  3. American Economic Review
  4. May 2017
  5. Teenage Motherhood and Sibling Outcomes

American Economic Review

ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)

Teenage Motherhood and Sibling Outcomes

  • Jennifer A. Heissel
American Economic Review
vol. 107, no. 5, May 2017
(pp. 633–37)
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Abstract

Using annual longitudinal data, I show that all children in families with teen childbearing are on a downward trajectory several years before pregnancy begins. Compared to students on similar trajectories from families without teenage childbearing, siblings of teen mothers have lower test scores, higher high school dropout, and higher juvenile justice system exposure following the birth. The change in test score outcomes occurs after the baby is born, indicating that the child's arrival affects performance, rather than some unobserved occurrence leading to both teen pregnancy and poor outcomes. The test scores for teen mothers drop in the year of pregnancy.

Citation

Heissel, Jennifer A. 2017. "Teenage Motherhood and Sibling Outcomes." American Economic Review, 107 (5): 633–37. DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20171130

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • I21 Analysis of Education
  • I24 Education and Inequality
  • J12 Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse
  • J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
  • J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination