The impact of educational attainment on early childbearing: an Instrument Variable Probit (IVP) Analysis
Date
2019-05
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This paper aims to investigate the relationship between educational attainment and the
likelihood of experiencing an early childbirth. The study intends to aid policy-makers in
making decisions regarding the importance of education as a deterrent to the prevalence of
early pregnancy among adolescents. Due to the presence of an endogeneity problem that
might bias the result we propose an empirical approach based on instrumental variables to
deal with this problem. Data for five survey rounds from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and
Nutrition Survey (CLHNS) were employed.
903 female index children aged 21 and below were included in the sample. Our analyses
control for possible confounding factors, including individual and family background
characteristics, and state economic conditions. Our results suggest that, female children with
higher level of educational attainment have a lower likelihood of experiencing an early
childbirth. We, therefore, conclude that retaining the female children and adolescents in
schools will lessen their probability of getting pregnant at a young age.
Description
Keywords
Metropolitan Cebu, educational attainment, early pregnancy, endogeneity, instrumental variables probit (IVP)