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The effects of teenage childbearing on education, physical health, and mental distress: evidence from Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2020

Pinar Mine Gunes  and
Magda Tsaneva
Pinar Mine Gunes
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Magda Tsaneva*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Clark University, Worcester, MA, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: mtsaneva@clarku.edu
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Abstract

This paper estimates the effects of teenage childbearing on education, working, physical and mental health, and physical activity of young girls in Mexico using two waves of the nationally representative Mexican Family Life Survey. We employ a propensity score matching model that accounts for a rich set of baseline covariates that predict teenage childbearing to attempt to reduce the bias due to confounding variables associated with teenage childbearing. The results demonstrate that teenage childbearing is associated with an increase in the probability of being overweight, and reductions in physical activity and the probability of high school completion. Moreover, the results are consistent when we employ sibling fixed effects to account for unobservable family background.

Keywords

boundingearly pregnancyhealthMexicopropensity score

JEL classification

I1: Health J13: Fertility • Family Planning • Child Care • Children • Youth
Type
Research Papers
Information
Journal of Demographic Economics , Volume 86 , Issue 2 , June 2020 , pp. 183 - 206
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain 2020

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