Early and Late Motherhood: Economic, Family Background and Social Conditions

Authors

• Mogens Nygaard Christoffersen
• Mette Lausten

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23979/fypr.45046

Keywords:

teenage pregnancy, childlessness, longitudinal research, legal abortion, social disadvantage, register research, disadvantage

Abstract

The study investigates parental child rearing methods, structural factors relating to the
family during adolescence geographic segregation, individual resource deficits and social
background of first time late live births among 32 to 37 years old women and compare
to teenagers before becoming teenage mothers. The purpose is to study if results will be
consistent with the hypotheses that poverty, social deprivation during adolescence and
low education are causes of teen childbearing but also childlessness among elder women
in the age group 32 to 37 years old. Could childlessness as well as teenage motherhood
bee seen as a consequence of social deprivation and lack of educational possibilities?
A discrete-time proportional hazard Cox model is applied to analyze the longitudinal
observations of population-based registers covering 1980-2003 for girls born in 1966. Results show a significant economic and social gradient for first-time teenage mothers.
Teenagers who had experienced family separation or who were formerly in out-of-home care in particular had an increased risk of early childbearing. Results showed
that teenage mothers were in every respect in a more disadvantaged position than
pregnant teenagers who had an induced abortion.
Quite the opposite pattern is disclosed for late motherhood. Late first time childbirth
is more commonly seen among women with a better family background and educated
position than childless women in the same age group. The late first-time pregnant
women who chose abortion are in a more disadvantaged position than the women who
become a mother for the first time in the age group 32 to 37 years old.
Conclusion: Disadvantage during adolescence is a precursor for teenage child bearing while
parental unemployment and poverty are precursors of lifetime childlessness. While social
disadvantage is a precursor for first time late abortion among 32 to 37 years old women, the
teenage mothers are in a more disadvantage position than teenagers who choose induced
abortions. Social disadvantages inflict at the same time early motherhood and childlessness
because social disadvantages influence young women differently than elder women.