Teen moms face unique hardships: Statscan says

Teenage motherhood has generally been associated with long-term socioeconomic consequences for women, but doesn't necessarily predict a life of low income and education may be the equalizer, said a study released Friday by Statistics Canada.

The study, Life after teenage motherhood, said that although teenage mothers are less likely than adults to complete high school or attain a postsecondary degree, the ones who do fare equally well in the labour market.

“Given that they attain education, teenage mothers will have similar socio-economic success as adult mothers,” said May Luong, author of the report.

Women who had given birth in their teens and completed a postsecondary degree were actually more likely to have a full-time job than their adult counterparts.

Similarly, education neutralized the effect of teen pregnancy on family income.

Teen mothers who had completed a postsecondary education were no more likely than adults to fall below Statistics Canada's low-income measure.

Family profiles were also studied. Teen moms whose own mothers completed a high school or postsecondary degree were more likely to work full-time than those without the schooling in their background, another testament to the protective power of education.

The importance of education may be the take-home message of the report, but it is also suggested that other unobserved characteristics such as family support, social network and psychological traits play an important role in socioeconomic outcomes.

“Things like personality, ability, motivation and family support can help an individual complete school and succeed in their job,” said Ms. Luong.

According to the study, there were 31,611 teenage pregnancies in Canada in 2004, nearly half of which resulted in live births. Canada's birth rate among teenagers is 13.6 per 1,000. That is only one-third the U.S. teen birth rate but almost seven times higher than the rate in Sweden, which has one of the lowest teen birth rates in all developed countries.

Unlike in the U.S., immigrant women in Canada are less likely to be teen moms than native born Canadians. Women who identified an aboriginal background were more than twice as likely than other mothers to have a child in their teens, although the study only looked at the “off-reserve” aboriginal population.

About half of teenage mothers marry in their teens, but only 20 per cent of them were married before the birth of their first child. Only 8 per cent of adult mothers married in their teens, and nearly three-quarters of them were married before the birth of their first child. Teenage mothers were also more likely to divorce and report marrying more than once.

The study – published Friday in Perspectives on Labour and Income – compared women who gave birth as teenagers with adult mothers on the basis of education, long-term labour force participation and low-income status.

DAVID PSUTKA

Globe and Mail Update

May 23, 2008 at 2:04 PM ED
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Suggested Discussion Ideas:

What part so you think culture plays in teenaged motherhood?

What do you think schools should do to support teen mother's to finish school?
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