Alternative Models of the Effects of Family Structure On Early Family Formation

Abstract

Data from the 1979-1985 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth are used to examine the effect of residing in a nonintact family during adolescence on the probability of experiencing a teen birth and on the timing of first premarital births. Models are developed to account for possible unmeasured common factors that jointly affect family structure and early family formation. The results confirm previous research findings that, after controlling for various socio-demographic factors, living in a nonintact family at age 14 increases the likelihood of becoming a teen parent and lowers the expected age of experiencing an out-of-wedlock birth. Using differing assumptions about the process-generating nonintact family structure and early family-formation outcomes, we find no evidence of the endogeneity of family structure. However, in the absence of prior information, the effect of family structure on early adult outcomes cannot be identified. As such, estimates of family-structure effects depend on the assumptions researchers make about the processes affecting family structure and early family formation.