Peer Effects on Teenage Fertility: Social Transmission Mechanisms and Policy Recommendations

Jason Fletcher and Olga Yakusheva
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Olga Yakusheva: University of Michigan School of Nursing

American Journal of Health Economics, 2016, vol. 2, issue 3, 300-317

Abstract: We present instrumental variable results suggesting that the likelihood of having a teenage pregnancy is influenced by peers. We show that the instruments (peer-level teen childbearing of mothers and the average age of menarche) are plausibly exogenous across cohorts of students attending the same school. The estimates are large—a 10 percentage point increase in peer pregnancies is associated with a 2–5 percentage point greater likelihood of own-pregnancy. Peer influence is greater in environments with other policy factors that also increase teenage pregnancy rates and may operate primarily through shaping social norms rather than information or knowledge-sharing mechanisms.

Keywords: teenage childgearing; peer effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I12 J1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tpr:amjhec:v:2:y:2016:i:3:p:300-317

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