Women Who Were Born to Teenage Mothers have Nearly Double the Risk of Early Childbearing

Abstract

According to the British National Child Development Study women whose mothers gave birth to them as teenagers are twice as likely as daughters of older mothers to begin their own childbearing early. Bivariate analysis indicated that while only 9% of all 2183 firstborn women in the sample had given birth as teenagers the daughters of teenage mothers were significantly more likely to have done so (20% versus 8%). They were also more likely to have given birth between ages 20 to 23 (30% versus 19%). Daughters of teenage mothers grew up in significantly more disadvantaged circumstances received less cognitive stimulation from their mothers during early childhood received lower test scores and ability ratings from teachers were more likely to leave school at the minimum age of 16 years and were more apt to consider the age 16-21 years old as the ideal time to begin childbearing than were adult daughters of older mothers. The only hypothesized risk factor for early childbearing that was not supported by the analysis was early age at menarche. Overall these findings support the existence of intergenerational trends in fertility.