Understanding teenage fertility, cohabitation, and marriage: the case of Peru

Marta Favara, Pablo Lavado and Alan Sanchez

Avances de Investigación from Grupo de Análisis para el Desarrollo (GRADE)

Abstract: In this study, we used data from the Young Lives study, which investigates teenage childbearing, marriage, and cohabitation by tracking a cohort of individuals from the ages of 8 to 19 years. While the present analysis does not intend to establish causality, the longitudinal nature of the data allows us to identify the combination of early circumstances and life changes that induce a higher likelihood of these events. The analysis addresses bias due both to reverse causality and to community characteristics that are usually unobserved and fixed over time, a strategy that is quite unique in studies of developing countries. About 1 out of 5 females (and 1 out of 20 males) in our sample had at least one child by the age of 19, and 80 percent of them were married or cohabiting. Early marriage/cohabitation is indeed intrinsically related to early pregnancy and largely predicted by the same factors. For females specifically, girls from poor households with an absent parent for a prolonged period have a higher risk of early childbearing. Similarly, girls whose self-efficacy and educational aspirations decrease over time are more at risk of becoming a mother during adolescence. Conversely, school attendance and better school performance predict a lower risk of early pregnancy; our analysis suggests that this is largely because it postpones the first sexual relationship.

Keywords: Niños; Adolescentes; Fecundidad; Matrimonio; Perú; Children; Adolescents; Fertility; Marriage; Peru (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 78 pages
Date: 2016
Note: Avances de Investigación, 22
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.grade.org.pe/wp-content/uploads/ai22.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Understanding Teenage Fertility, Cohabitation, and Marriage: The Case of Peru (2016)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gad:avance:0022

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Avances de Investigación from Grupo de Análisis para el Desarrollo (GRADE) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().