A Cross-Cohort Examination of Nonmarital Teenage

This paper examines the nonmarital teenage childbearing behavior of two cohorts of women from the National Longitudinal Surveys (born between 1957-1964, making them teenagers during the 1970s-80s, and between 1980-94, making them teenagers during the late 1990s-early 2000s). The two cohorts faced substantially different social and economic situations during adolescence. The paper constructs a monthly panel of information for the teens from the time they are 12 years old until they have a nonmarital birth, reach the end of their third survey without giving birth, get married, or reach age 18. It identifies factors contributing to differences in teenage childbearing behavior across the cohorts by estimating a Cox proportional hazard model, stratified on race, age of mother at the birth of her first child, and rate of marriage in the state. The model identifies education, living situations, religion, and welfare policy as contributing factors. For teens of the 1990s, the introduction of restrictions on living conditions act as a retardant to nonmarital childbearing. Higher education for the youth an