Is teenage motherhood contagious? Evidence from a Natural Experiment
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Date
2011-07Metadata
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- Discussion papers (SAM) [662]
Abstract
There is relatively little research on peer effects in teenage motherhood despite the fact that peer effects,
and in particular social interaction within the family, are likely to be important. We estimate the impact of
an elder sister’s teenage fertility on the teenage childbearing of their younger sister. To identify the peer
effect we utilize an educational reform that impacted on the elder sister’s teenage fertility. Our main result
is that within families, teen births tend to be contagious and the effect is larger where siblings are close in
age and for women from low resource households.