The name is absent

Distal family factors

5.3.3 Summary

Overall, there is clear theory and evidence to suggest that family size is important as a
distal factor with strong effects on children’s development. Moreover, there is a clear
inverse correlation of family size and parents’ education and theory to support the
view that an element of this is a causal effect of education. However, evidence for this
causal role is weak. We conclude, therefore, that family size is an important mediator
of education effects although the causal pathway is relatively unexplored.

5.4. Teenage motherhood

Closely related to the topics of family structure and size is mothers’ age. Mothers’
learning experiences may be associated either directly or indirectly with mother-child
interactions and may improve parenting skills and thus children’s outcomes (Conger
et al., 1984). Therefore, age of the mother may have a positive impact on children’s
outcomes. In this section we explore the effect of age of the mother on children’s
educational attainment and the role of education in this relationship.

5.4.1 The effects of teenage motherhood on children school
achievements

On average, children of young mothers score more poorly on cognitive measures and
are at higher risk of poor school attainments than children of older mothers (Feinstein
et al., 1999; Furstenburg et al., 1987). Other empirical studies suggest behavioural
differences between children of teenage parents and other children (Pagani, et al.
1997). Moreover, studies of inter-generational effects show that children of teenage
parents are more likely to become teenage parents themselves (Kiernan, 1997;

Manlove, 1997).

One possible explanation is that young mothers may be unprepared for motherhood
and may have less adequate parenting skills (Furstenberg et al., 1989). Other theories
suggest that the differences in children’s achievements may not be the consequence of
young maternal age per se, but that teenage motherhood emerges as a consequence of
prior socio-economic disadvantages, which are transmitted across generations and are
responsible for jeopardizing the future of the child (Geronimus et al., 1994).

In general, empirical studies find that the effect of age of the mother, if any, is small
relative to other risk factors. Once income, parental education and socio-economic
status are control in the model, the effects of age of the mother tend to disappear - or
become statistically insignificant. Hence, age of the mother is not a significant distal
factor that affects child development on its own. The fact that children of teenage
mothers tend to achieve poorer developmental outcomes is mainly due to the multiple
adverse factors that tend to co-occur with teenage parenthood. However, teenage
parenthood is clearly a potential risk factor.

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