Early Childbearing and Completion of High School (From Teenage Pregnancy, P 191-194, 1987, Mary C. McClellan, ed. -- See NCJ-117071)

• NCJ Number: 117081
• Author(s): F L Mott; W Marsiglio
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 4 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Labor
• Sale Source: Phi Delta Kappa
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Reprinted from Family Planning Perspectives, volume 17, number 5, September/October 1985.

Annotation

The data presented in this article document the extent of high school completion among a contemporary population of 20 to 26-year-old-women.

Abstract

Data were taken from the National Longitudinal Survey of Work Experience of Youth, which has collected retrospective and prospective information on a representative sample of U.S. adolescents and young adults. For this study, the data cover 4,696 women aged 20 to 26 in 1983, thus being past the normal age of high school completion. The study examined patterns of high school termination and completion associated with teenage childbearing. Results indicate that women who have had a child either before leaving high school or within a number of months of leaving school are far less likely to have eventually obtained a secondary credential than are women who have postponed childbearing until their 20's. Black women in these early-childbearing groups are about as likely as comparable whites to have completed high school, but Hispanic women are much less likely to have done so. The analyses highlight the importance of the General Educational Development program for women who bear children at an early age. 5 tables, 4 references.