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Understanding the effects of early motherhood in Britain: the effects on mothers

Author

Listed:
  • Alissa Goodman

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London)

  • Greg Kaplan

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University of Chicago)

  • Ian Walker

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Lancaster University)

Abstract

This paper examines the socio-economic consequences of teenage motherhood for a cohort of British women born in 1970. We apply a number of different methodologies on the same dataset, including OLS, a propensity score matching estimator, and an instrumental variables estimator, using miscarriages as an instrument. We bound the biases introduced through IV due to non-randomness, and misreporting of the instrument. Our results are sensitive to the methodologies used. Taking only observed characteristics into account, the effects of teenage motherhood appear large and negative. The pathways are through bigger family size, and negative labour market outcomes for the mother and her partner, and are mitigated by transfers from the state through the British benefit system. Our IV estimates show that almost all these effects are reduced to zero once unobserved heterogeneity is taken into account. However our IV bounds show that biases introduced by non-randomness and misreporting of our instrument could be responsible for all of this apparent reduction in effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Alissa Goodman & Greg Kaplan & Ian Walker, 2004. "Understanding the effects of early motherhood in Britain: the effects on mothers," IFS Working Papers W04/20, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:04/20
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Hupkau, Claudia & Leturcq, Marion, 2017. "Fertility and mothers’ labor supply: new evidence usingtime-to-conception," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 69045, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Marco Francesconi, 2008. "Adult Outcomes for Children of Teenage Mothers," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 110(1), pages 93-117, March.
    3. Mariana Gerstenblüth & Zuleika Ferre & Máximo Rossi & Patricia Triunfo, 2009. "Impacto de la maternidad adolescente en los logros educativos," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 0509, Department of Economics - dECON.
    4. Paul Bingley & Yu Zhu & Ian Walker, 2005. "Education, Work and Wages in the UK," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 6(3), pages 395-414, August.
    5. Trinh Le & Guyonne Kalb & Felix Leung, 2015. "Outcomes for teenage mothers in the first years after birth," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 18(3), pages 255-279.
    6. Rosenbaum, Philip, 2020. "Does early childbearing matter? New approach using Danish register data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    7. Ian Walker & Yu Zhu, 2009. "The Causal Effect of Teen Motherhood on Worklessness," Studies in Economics 0917, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    8. Lara Tavares, 2008. "Who delays childbearing? The relationships between fertility, education and personality traits," Working Papers 009, "Carlo F. Dondena" Centre for Research on Social Dynamics (DONDENA), Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi.
    9. Kyla Ellis-Sloan, 2014. "Teenage Mothers, Stigma and Their ‘Presentations of Self’," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 19(1), pages 16-28, February.
    10. Zuleika Ferre & Mariana Gerstenblüth & Máximo Rossi & Patricia Triunfo, 2009. "Decisión sobre iniciación sexual: el caso de adolescentes uruguayas," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 0409, Department of Economics - dECON.
    11. Kevin Lang Jr. & Russell Weinstein Jr., 2015. "The Consequences of Teenage Childbearing before Roe v. Wade," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(4), pages 169-197, October.
    12. Agnieszka Bałanda-Bałdyga & Anna Bogusława Pilewska-Kozak & Celina Łepecka-Klusek & Grażyna Stadnicka & Beata Dobrowolska, 2020. "Attitudes of Teenage Mothers towards Pregnancy and Childbirth," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-10, February.
    13. Dylan Kneale & Ruth Lupton, 2010. "Are there neighbourhood effects on teenage parenthood in the UK, and does it matter for policy? A review of theory and evidence," CASE Papers case141, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    14. Rafael Novella & Laura Ripani, 2016. "Are you (not) expecting? The unforeseen benefits of job training on teenage pregnancy," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-18, December.
    15. Adam Ashcraft & Iván Fernández‐Val & Kevin Lang, 2013. "The Consequences of Teenage Childbearing: Consistent Estimates When Abortion Makes Miscarriage Non‐random," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 123, pages 875-905, September.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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