Is teenage motherhood contagious? Evidence from a Natural Experiment

Kjell G Salvanes, Carol Propper and Karin Monstad

No 8505, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: There is relatively little research on peer effects in teenage motherhood despite the fact that peer effects, and in particular social interaction within the family, is likely to be important. We estimate the impact of an elder sister?s teenage fertility on the teenage childbearing of their younger sister. To identify the peer effect we utilize an educational reform that impacted on the elder sister?s teenage fertility. Our main result is that within families, teen births tend to be contagious and the effect is larger where siblings are close in age and for women from low resource households.

Keywords: Teenage pregnancy; Spillover effects; Education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 J13 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-lab, nep-soc and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Is teenage motherhood contagious? Evidence from a Natural Experiment (2011)
Working Paper: Is teenage motherhood contagious? Evidence from a Natural Experiment (2011)
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