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Title: The Consequences of Age at First Childbirth: Family Size
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Moore, Kristin Anderson
Hofferth, Sandra L.
The Consequences of Age at First Childbirth: Family Size
Final Report, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 1978
Cohort(s): Young Women
Publisher: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Keyword(s): Age at First Birth; Age at First Marriage; Children; Earnings; Fertility; First Birth; Income Dynamics/Shocks; Schooling; Teenagers

The impact of a woman's age at the birth of her first child on family size was assessed using two national longitudinal data sets. Analyses are based on annual interviews conducted between l968 and l972 with the Young Women's cohort of the NLS. Information on women age 22 to 52 in l976, both wives and female heads, was obtained from Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) interviews, which were conducted between l968 and l976. Analyses on both data sets provide strong support for an association between an early first birth and higher subsequent fertility. Among PSID women aged 35 to 52, mothers whose first child was born when they were 17 or younger bore an average of more than five children each, approximately three children more per mother compared to women who delayed their first birth to age 24 or later. Age at first birth is found to have a far greater impact on fertility than age at first marriage.
Bibliography Citation
Moore, Kristin Anderson and Sandra L. Hofferth. "The Consequences of Age at First Childbirth: Family Size." Final Report, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 1978.