Wednesday, February 20

Does teenage childbearing increase smoking, drinking

The answer from this paper is yes. Its a bit of a d'oh statement, no? But then, would these teenage mother's hear? remove the incentives (economic and social) and these behavioural patterns will drop away.


This paper analyses the causal effect of teenage childbearing on smoking, drinking and body
size using a sample of Australian twins and their relatives. Fixed effects estimates on samples
of siblings, all twin pairs and identical twin pairs show that teenage mothers smoke more
during their lives. Teen mothers tend to have a higher probability of being overweight,
especially if they are older than 40 years. Their spouses are more likely to smoke and drink
more. The quality of the spouse seems to be an important mechanism through which teenage
childbearing affects subsequent maternal health.


All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

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