School-Age Mothers: 1968 and 1979

Abstract

There is evidence that pregnant high school girls who went on to have a 1st child were more likely to remain in school during their pregnancies in 1979 than in 1968. Among whites the proportion in school 5 months before delivery was 42% compared with 20%; among blacks it was 70% compared with 45%. In addition in 1979 a larger proportion of young women returned to school after birth: at 9 months following childbirth 17% of white mothers were enrolled in school in 1979 compared with only 5% in 1968; for black mothers the proportions were 39 and 15%. However among those who did not continue their education beyond high school larger proportions bore children while still in school or soon thereafter in 1979 than in 1968. These data suggest that the overall decline in teenage childbearing recorded for this period is attributable to those young people who obtained a higher education. More of the young mothers including those who dropped out and those who graduated were unmarried in 1979 than in 1968. A large majority of young black mothers lived with their parents or other relatives rather than with spouses. In 1979 23% of young white mothers who had graduated from high school but did not go on to college received public assistance of some kind compared with 32% of those who had dropped out of school. Among blacks 45% of high school graduates with children received public assistance compared with 74% of mothers who had dropped out. The labor force participation rate of women with children was much greater in 1979 (51% compared with 38% in 1968). But the unemployment rate among young mothers was much higher for both whites and blacks in 1979 and was particularly high among school dropouts. (authors modified)