Teen Mothers Forgotten: The Gap Between High School and Higher Education
Though the national teen birth rate has declined since 1991, teen motherhood is still associated with educational and lifetime disparities among women who give birth at ages 15-19. Using the Understanding America Study data, I examine teen mothers' educational and financial outcomes with neares...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Ali Khorsandi Taskoh
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Journal of Higher Education Policy and Leadership Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://johepal.com/article-1-356-en.html |
| _version_ | 1827904538587168768 |
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| author | Sarah Ruth Morris |
| author_facet | Sarah Ruth Morris |
| author_sort | Sarah Ruth Morris |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Though the national teen birth rate has declined since 1991, teen motherhood is still associated with educational and lifetime disparities among women who give birth at ages 15-19. Using the Understanding America Study data, I examine teen mothers' educational and financial outcomes with nearest-neighbor matching. My sample is 1,335 mothers with 118 teen mothers, and I define teen mothers as mothers who had children at 15-17 years old. Compared to mothers who did not have children at ages 15-17, I find marginal significance that teen mothers are less likely to graduate high school at 10 percentage points less. More significantly, I find teen mothers to be 32 percentage points less likely to have an associate degree and 25 percentage points less likely to have a Bachelor's Degree, both at the 99% confidence level. Moreover, teen mothers are 15 percent more likely to live in poverty. These results imply a need for more support for teen mothers to complete higher education degrees beyond high school.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T00:29:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-27377c00ab864e219ac82627821ec50c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2717-1426 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T00:29:45Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | Ali Khorsandi Taskoh |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Higher Education Policy and Leadership Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-27377c00ab864e219ac82627821ec50c2023-07-10T19:54:02ZengAli Khorsandi TaskohJournal of Higher Education Policy and Leadership Studies2717-14262023-06-0142107117http://dx.doi.org/10.52547/johepal.4.2.107Teen Mothers Forgotten: The Gap Between High School and Higher EducationSarah Ruth MorrisThough the national teen birth rate has declined since 1991, teen motherhood is still associated with educational and lifetime disparities among women who give birth at ages 15-19. Using the Understanding America Study data, I examine teen mothers' educational and financial outcomes with nearest-neighbor matching. My sample is 1,335 mothers with 118 teen mothers, and I define teen mothers as mothers who had children at 15-17 years old. Compared to mothers who did not have children at ages 15-17, I find marginal significance that teen mothers are less likely to graduate high school at 10 percentage points less. More significantly, I find teen mothers to be 32 percentage points less likely to have an associate degree and 25 percentage points less likely to have a Bachelor's Degree, both at the 99% confidence level. Moreover, teen mothers are 15 percent more likely to live in poverty. These results imply a need for more support for teen mothers to complete higher education degrees beyond high school. https://johepal.com/article-1-356-en.htmleducational outcomesmatchingeducation policyhigher education policyteen mothers |
| spellingShingle | Sarah Ruth Morris Teen Mothers Forgotten: The Gap Between High School and Higher Education Journal of Higher Education Policy and Leadership Studies educational outcomes matching education policy higher education policy teen mothers |
| title | Teen Mothers Forgotten: The Gap Between High School and Higher Education |
| title_full | Teen Mothers Forgotten: The Gap Between High School and Higher Education |
| title_fullStr | Teen Mothers Forgotten: The Gap Between High School and Higher Education |
| title_full_unstemmed | Teen Mothers Forgotten: The Gap Between High School and Higher Education |
| title_short | Teen Mothers Forgotten: The Gap Between High School and Higher Education |
| title_sort | teen mothers forgotten the gap between high school and higher education |
| topic | educational outcomes matching education policy higher education policy teen mothers |
| url | https://johepal.com/article-1-356-en.html |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sarahruthmorris teenmothersforgottenthegapbetweenhighschoolandhighereducation |