Transformation, disruption or cumulative disadvantage? Labor market and education trajectories of young mothers in Australia.

Sara Kalucza,Jack Lam,Janeen Baxter

doi:10.1016/j.alcr.2021.100446

Abstract

Young motherhood is often framed as detrimental to the life chances of young women with research showing negative impacts on education and labor market outcomes. At the same time, qualitative research reports narratives of motherhood as a transformative experience, providing motivation for a fresh start and moving young women away from previously unstable life pathways. These scenarios appear contradictory, however outcomes might vary for different groups of women depending on their pre-birth trajectories. We investigate the effects of early parenthood using the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey. We employ a sequence based approach to compare labor market- and educational precarity of young mothers and non-parenting peers. We employ a novel sequence matching technique creating a comparison group of non-parenting young women, based on similarities in early labor market trajectories. We find that young mothers have higher levels of precarity in their pre-birth trajectories. Moreover, our results show that becoming a young mother is connected to an average increase in labor market and educational precarity post birth, which supports the hypothesis of cumulative disadvantage. However, only mothers with the least precarious trajectories prior to birth experience this development, whereas young women already on highly precarious paths see a decrease in precarity over time. Although our results do not support cumulative disadvantage for the most disadvantaged women, neither does it support the idea of parenthood as a transformative event. Our results point to the importance of understanding heterogeneity in the outcomes of young mothers.

Highlights

Young motherhood is often framed as detrimental to the continued life chances of women because parenting at a young age restricts women’s opportunities to complete education or pursue employment (Furstenberg, 2003)
At any time during the three-year period leading up to birth, a majority of young mothers-to-be were either in education or employ ment, the education group is distinctively smaller for young mothers-to-be compared to their peers
Instead of being in education, we find a larger proportion of young mothers-to-be in employment

Summary

Introduction

Young motherhood is often framed as detrimental to the continued life chances of women because parenting at a young age restricts women’s opportunities to complete education or pursue employment (Furstenberg, 2003). Young parenthood may be a marker of other kinds of characteristics that are associated with poorer educational and employment outcomes, such as low attachment to education, limited employment opportunities or aspirations, and disrupted family re lationships. This explanation suggests that it is not young parenthood leading to negative outcomes, but rather certain characteristics associ ated with disadvantage predispose some young women to enter parenthood early.

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion