The Effect of Maternal Employment on Teenage Childbearing

Leonard M. Lopoo, Princeton University

This paper estimates the effect of a mother's employment on her teenage daughter's likelihood of first birth. Maternal employment could positively impact teenage childbearing by reducing the amount of supervision a mother can provide. On the other hand, maternal employment may reduce the likelihood of a teenage birth through either an income effect, a role model mechanism, or a childcare effect. Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Survey of 1988, this analysis shows that maternal employment increases the hazard rate of first sex by 11 percent among non-African American teenagers. It also reveals that maternal employment reduces the hazard rate of a teenage birth conditional on being sexually active by at least 14 percent among non-African Americans. Maternal employment does not appear to affect childbearing among African American teenagers.