The long-term effects of mistimed pregnancy on children’s education and employment

Abstract

In this study, we examine the long-term effects of mistimed pregnancy on one’s future educational attainment and employment. We use the time gap between a child’s birth year and their mothers’ marriage year as a proxy indicator of mistimed pregnancy. We find that a large proportion of children were born from 1 to 3 years after their mothers’ marriage, and these children have remarkably higher educational attainment and are more likely to be engaged in a high-skilled profession than children born just before their mothers’ marriage. This negative effect is consistently found in 10 countries studied in this paper.