| Stefanie Mollborn
Stanford University
Why is it so bad? Teenage parenthood and the impact of norms and resources
FINAL REPORT
This study proposes and tests a resource-based explanation for the negative relationship between teenage parenthood and educational attainment using survey data from the 1988-2000 National Education Longitudinal Study (N=8575). The availability of material resources such as housing, child care, and financial support is hypothesized to explain much of the effect of teenage parenthood on education. Results support the hypothesis: Resources substantially mediate the detrimental influence of both motherhood and fatherhood on education. Gender influences which resources are protective, however. Help with child care is critical for mothers, while housing and money are more important for fathers.
In a second study analyzing a subsample of 366 teenage parents, family members' norms about teenage parenthood and gender roles are hypothesized to influence the resources they provide. Analyses find that teenage parents who conform to gender-normative resource patterns (fathers who work for pay but do not provide child care, and mothers who provide child care but not financial support) fare worst in terms of their future educational attainment. Those with non-normative resource patterns (male caretakers and female workers) have the best educational outcomes. These findings underscore the importance of integrating both norms and resources into the study of teenage parenthood and call into question the gender-segregated study designs prevalent in the literature.
These studies have potentially important policy implications. Although there are fewer teenage fathers than mothers, these fathers pay a similar educational penalty for parenthood and should be targeted for policy interventions. Fathers can be helped by receiving financial assistance so that they can avoid long hours of paid work. While taking care of their children be beneficial for teenage fathers, mothers can increase their educational attainment substantially if they are relieved of primary caretaking responsibilities. The ÒtraditionalÓ solution to teenage pregnancy (marriage, paid work for the father, and child care for the mother) is particularly detrimental for teenage parents' educational attainment and should be discouraged.
Back to Funded Dissertation Grants Page |