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Jennifer S. Manlove, Elizabeth Terry-Humen, Lisa A. Mincieli, and Kristin A. Moore examine outcomes for children of teen parents and compare these outcomes with those for children born to older mothers. As in the previous edition of Kids Having Kids, the authors find that children of teenage mothers fare poorly compared with other children. However, much of the difference is explained by factors other than adolescent childbearing. Compared with children whose mothers begin parenting at age 20 to 21, children of teen mothers are much more likely to be low birth weight, have lower health assessment scores, have lower cognitive attainment and proficiency scores at kindergarten entry, and exhibit more behavior problems. Adolescent children have significantly lower academic achievement as measured by performance on standardized tests, and they are at higher risk of not completing high school. Generally, these differences are most pronounced for the children born to women who have their first child before age 18.

For example, compared with children whose mothers begin parenting at age 20 to 21, children of teen mothers have lower standardized test scores at kindergarten entry, and adolescent daughters of teen mothers are less likely to graduate from high school, net of controls. In addition, children of teen mothers exhibit more behavior problems, and children of the youngest teen mothers are more likely to be low birth weight. Adolescent children of teen mothers are also more likely to be married or cohabiting at a young age and are more likely to have a teen birth themselves.

These adverse effects for children are most pronounced for those outcomes measured at kindergarten. However, unlike chapter 5 in the previous edition of Kids Having Kids, which found more pronounced differences for the children born to women who have their first child before age 18, this chapter finds similarly poor outcomes among children of younger and older teen mothers. The authors suggest that this similarity may result, in part, from the different living situations of younger and older teen mothers. These findings suggest that it will take more than convincing teen mothers to delay childbearing for a few years to eliminate the myriad disadvantages their children face relative to children whose mothers choose to begin parenting in their 20s or later.