Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive health | |
Early Childbearing and Children's Achievement And Behavior over Time |
TABLE 1. Mean scores (and standard deviations) on children's achievement and behavior-problem tests, by data set, according to mother's age at first birth, Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and National Longitudinal Survey of the Labor Market Experience of Youth (NLSY) | ||||
Data set and test | N | All mothers | Teenage mothers | Adult mothers |
PSID | ||||
Letter-word identification | 1,721 | 105.8 (18.0) | 97.5 (13.5) | 107.9 (18.9) |
Passage comprehension | 1,221 | 106.4 (16.2) | 98.2 (12.9) | 108.6 (16.7) |
Calculation | 1,214 | 103.3 (17.8) | 95.5 (15.4) | 105.4 (18.0) |
Applied problems | 1,711 | 109.1 (17.5) | 100.0 (13.7) | 111.5 (18.0) |
Behavior-problem index | 2,144 | 8.3 (5.9) | 9.3 (5.6) | 8.0 (6.0) |
Internalizing | 2,144 | 2.5 (2.7) | 2.8 (2.5) | 2.4 (2.7) |
Externalizing | 2,144 | 5.8 (3.9) | 6.5 (3.6) | 5.5 (4.0) |
NLSY | ||||
Math | 2,855 | 103.6 (13.6) | 98.3 (11.2) | 105.1 (14.1) |
Reading recognition | 2,847 | 106.2 (14.5) | 100.5 (12.7) | 107.8 (14.7) |
Reading comprehension | 2,307 | 103.0 (13.0) | 97.1 (11.1) | 104.9 (13.2) |
Picture vocabulary | 1,880 | 97.9 (17.6) | 89.3 (15.5) | 100.2 (17.7) |
Behavior-problem index | 3,064 | 103.5 (15.0) | 106.7 (14.5) | 102.6 (15.1) |
Internalizing | 3,224 | 102.1 (15.2) | 104.0 (14.5) | 101.5 (15.5) |
Externalizing | 3,138 | 103.0 (14.7) | 106.3 (14.3) | 102.1 (14.7) |
TABLE 2. Coefficients from logistic regression models using different sets of controls to assess the effect of maternal age at first birth on children's achievement and behavior-problem test scores, PSID | ||||||||||||||
Age, period and interaction between age and period | Achievement test | Behavior-problem index | ||||||||||||
Letter-word identification | Passage comprehension | Calculation | Applied problems | Total | Externalizing | Internalizing | ||||||||
Model | Model | Model | Model | Model | Model | Model | Model | Model | Model | Model | Model | Model | Model | |
A | B | A | B | A | B | A | B | A | B | A | B | A | B | |
Teenage first birth | -6.4** | 0.1 | -8.0** | -15.6** | -7.0** | 8.5 | -8.7** | -7.6 | 0.9** | 7. 9** | 0.8** | 4.9** | 0.2 | 3.0** |
Period of first birth | ||||||||||||||
Early 1970s | na | 8.2 | na | -0.3 | na | 1.1 | na | -0.2 | na | -0.0 | na | -0.5 | na | 0.4 |
Late 1970s | na | 0.2 | na | -4.9 | na | -1.8 | na | 3.0 | na | 1.4 | na | 1.0 | na | 0.5 |
Early 1980s | na | 2.7 | na | -2.4 | na | 3.0 | na | 6.1** | na | 0.2 | na | -0.1 | na | 0.4 |
Late 1980s | na | 7.9** | na | 3.6 | na | 6.0* | na | 5.8** | na | 0.5 | na | 0.0 | na | 0.4 |
Early 1990s | na | 3.4 | na | -7.1* | na | 2.0 | na | 5.0* | na | 0.9 | na | 0.5 | na | 0.4 |
Period of teenage first birth | ||||||||||||||
Early 1970s | na | -13.5 | na | 7.5 | na | -14.2 | na | 4.0 | na | -7.3** | na | -4.4** | na | -2.8** |
Late 1970s | na | -5.0 | na | 11.5 | na | -11.6 | na | -0.1 | na | -9.2** | na | -5.8** | na | -3.4** |
Early 1980s | na | -5.0 | na | 8.2 | na | -14.1 | na | -2.0 | na | -7.4** | na | -4.3** | na | -3.1** |
Late 1980s | na | -10.5 | na | 6.8 | na | -19.5* | na | -2.2 | na | -6.1** | na | -3.7** | na | -2.5** |
Early 1990s | na | 1.5 | na | -1.7 | na | -3.5 | na | 3.3 | na | -6.7** | na | -4.0** | na | -2.8** |
Intercept | 88.3** | 83.2** | 100.5** | 99. 6** | 105.0** | 99.5** | 104.6** | 98.9** | 9.0** | 8.3** | 7.9** | 7.5 | 1.1** | 0.7** |
*p<.10. **p<.05. The reference period is the late 1960s. Notes: Both models control for race, gender, age, grandmother's education and employment, number of maternal siblings and family structure. Model B controls for period of first birth and the interaction between age at first birth and period of first birth. na=not applicable. |
FIGURE 1. Predicted scores on letter-word identification test among children of women who first gave birth during their teens and children of women who first gave birth as adults, by period of first birth, PSID |
FIGURE 2. Predicted scores on passage-comprehension test among children of women who first gave birth during their teens and children of women who first gave birth as adults, by period of first birth, PSID |
FIGURE 3. Predicted scores on calculation test among children of women who first gave birth during their teens and children of women who first gave birth as adults, by period of first birth, PSID |
FIGURE 4. Predicted scores on applied-problems test among children of women who first gave birth during their teens and children of women who first gave birth as adults, by period of first birth, PSID |
FIGURE 5. Predicted total number of behavior problems among children of women who first gave birth during their teens and children of women who first gave birth as adults, by period of first birth, PSID |
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© copyright 2002, The Alan Guttmacher Institute. |