The Impact of Early Maternal Age on Early Childhood Mortality: Evidence from Egypt

Khalil, Islam (2023): The Impact of Early Maternal Age on Early Childhood Mortality: Evidence from Egypt.

Abstract

We investigate the relationship between early maternal age (teen motherhood) and early childhood mortality. Existing work shows that negative selection into teen motherhood is crucial in understanding its consequences on women and their offspring. Even without these selection effects, there are reasons to believe that children born in their mother’s adolescence are disadvantaged, given their mother’s physical and psychological immaturity. We use Egyptian data in a mother fixed effects framework to examine the effect of early maternal age on early childhood mortality. By comparing mortality outcomes of children born to the same mother at different maternal ages, we control for all mother-level child-invariant characteristics. The results show that a child born to an adolescent mother is more likely to die in neonatal, infant, and childhood periods than a sibling born in their mother’s adulthood. The adverse effect doubles if a child is born before a mother’s sixteenth birthday, which is not uncommon in the data. We show that children born to a young mother are more likely to be below average size at birth, and their mother is less likely to receive prenatal care than when pregnant with siblings born in her adulthood. That hints that the biological disadvantage associated with early childbearing may explain the toll of early childhood mortality.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Maternal age, Early childhood mortality; Mother fixed effects, Egypt
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I12 - Health Behavior; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I15 - Health and Economic Development; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J13 - Fertility ; Family Planning ; Child Care ; Children ; Youth; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O15 - Human Resources ; Human Development ; Income Distribution ; Migration

References

Aizer, Anna, Paul Devereux, and Kjell Salvanes (2020). Grandparents, moms, or dads? Why children of teen mothers do worse in life. Journal of Human Resources, 1019–10524R2.

Almond, Douglas, Kenneth Y. Chay, and David S. Lee (2005). The costs of low birth weight. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 120, 1031–1083.

Almond, Douglas, and Janet Currie (2011). Killing me softly: The fetal origins hypothesis. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 25, 153–172.

Almond, Douglas, Janet Currie, and Valentina Duque (2018). Childhood circumstances and adult outcomes: Act II. Journal of Economic Literature, 56, 1360–1446.

Barclay, Kieron J., Mikko Myrskylä, et al. (2015). Advanced maternal age and offspring outcomes: Causal effects and countervailing period trends. MPIDR Working Papers WP-2015-009, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research.

Black, Sandra E., Paul J. Devereux, and Kjell G. Salvanes (2016). Healthy (?), wealthy, and wise: Birth order and adult health. Economics & Human Biology, 23, 27–45.

Branson, Nicola, Cally Ardington, and Murray Leibbrandt (2015). Health outcomes for children born to teen mothers in Cape Town, South Africa. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 63, 589–616.

Chari, A. V., Rachel Heath, Annemie Maertens, and Freeha Fatima (2017). The causal effect of maternal age at marriage on child wellbeing: Evidence from India. Journal of Development Economics, 127, 42–55.

Chou, Shin-Yi, Jin-Tan Liu, Michael Grossman, and Ted Joyce (2010). Parental education and child health: Evidence from a natural experiment in Taiwan. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2, 33–61.

Currie, Janet, and Tom Vogl (2013). Early-life health and adult circumstance in developing countries. Annual Review of Economics, 5, 1–36.

Darroch, Jacqueline E., Vanessa Woog, Akinrinola Bankole, and Lori S. Ashford (2016). Adding it up: Costs and benefits of meeting the contraceptive needs of adolescents.

De Haan, Monique, Erik Plug, and José Rosero (2014). Birth order and human capital development: Evidence from Ecuador. Journal of Human Resources, 49, 359–392.

Delprato, Marcos, and Kwame Akyeampong (2017). The effect of early marriage timing on women’s and children’s health in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southwest Asia. Annals of Global Health, 83, 557–567.

Delprato, Marcos, Kwame Akyeampong, and Máiréad Dunne (2017). Intergenerational education effects of early marriage in Sub-Saharan Africa. World Development, 91, 173–192.

Efevbera, Yvette, Jacqueline Bhabha, Paul E. Farmer, and Günther Fink (2017). Girl child marriage as a risk factor for early childhood development and stunting. Social Science & Medicine, 185, 91–101.

Field, Erica, and Attila Ambrus (2008). Early marriage, age of menarche, and female schooling attainment in Bangladesh. Journal of Political Economy, 116, 881–930.

Francesconi, Marco (2008). Adult outcomes for children of teenage mothers. Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 110, 93–117.

Garcia-Hombrados, Jorge (2018). Child marriage and infant mortality: Evidence from Ethiopia. Documento de Trabajo, 7.

Geronimus, Arline T., Sanders Korenman, and Marianne M. Hillemeier (1994). Does young maternal age adversely affect child development? Evidence from cousin comparisons in the United States. Population and Development Review, 585–609.

Godha, Deepali, David R. Hotchkiss, and Anastasia J. Gage (2013). Association between child marriage and reproductive health outcomes and service utilization: A multi-country study from South Asia. Journal of Adolescent Health, 52, 552–558.

Grépin, Karen A., and Prashant Bharadwaj (2015). Maternal education and child mortality in Zimbabwe. Journal of Health Economics, 44, 97–117.

Hodgkinson, Stacy, Lee Beers, Cathy Southammakosane, and Amy Lewin (2014). Addressing the mental health needs of pregnant and parenting adolescents. Pediatrics, 133, 114–122.

Hong, R., and M. Ruiz Beltran (2008). Low birth weight as a risk factor for infant mortality in Egypt. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, 14(5), 992–1002.

Hotz, V. Joseph, Susan Williams McElroy, and Seth G. Sanders (2005). Teenage childbearing and its life cycle consequences: Exploiting a natural experiment. Journal of Human Resources, 40, 683–715.

Hviid, Malene Meisner, Charlotte Wessel Skovlund, Lina Steinrud Mørch, and Øjvind Lidegaard (2017). Maternal age and child morbidity: A Danish national cohort study. PLoS One, 12, e0174770.

Kingston, Dawn, Maureen Heaman, Deshayne Fell, Beverley Chalmers, and the Maternity Experiences Study Group of the Canadian Perinatal Surveillance System (2012). Comparison of adolescent, young adult, and adult women’s maternity experiences and practices. Pediatrics, 129, e1228–e1237.

Leeson, Peter T., and Paola A. Suarez (2017). Child brides. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 144, 40–61.

Lehmann, Jee-Yeon K., Ana Nuevo-Chiquero, and Marian Vidal-Fernandez (2018). The early origins of birth order differences in children’s outcomes and parental behavior. Journal of Human Resources, 53, 123–156.

Magadi, Monica Akinyi, Alfred O. Agwanda, and Francis O. Obare (2007). A comparative analysis of the use of maternal health services between teenagers and older mothers in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Demographic and Health Surveys. Social Science & Medicine, 64, 1311–1325.

McCormick, Marie C. (1985). The contribution of low birth weight to infant mortality and childhood morbidity. New England Journal of Medicine, 312, 82–90.

Naeye, Richard L., Leslie S. Burt, David L. Wright, William A. Blanc, and Dorothy Tatter (1971). Neonatal mortality: The male disadvantage. Pediatrics, 48, 902–906.

Neal, Sarah, Zoë Matthews, Melanie Frost, Helga Fogstad, Alma V. Camacho, and Laura Laski (2012). Childbearing in adolescents aged 12–15 years in low-resource countries: New estimates from demographic and household surveys in 42 countries. Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, 91, 1114–1118.

Perez-Alvarez, Marcello, and Marta Favara (2019). Maternal age and offspring human capital in India. IZA Discussion Paper No. 12489.

Pongou, Roland (2013). Why is infant mortality higher in boys than in girls? A new hypothesis based on preconception environment and evidence from a large sample of twins. Demography, 50, 421–444.

Rawlings, Samantha, and Zahra Siddique (2020). Domestic violence and child mortality in the developing world. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 82, 723–750.

Reid, Vanessa, and Mikki Meadows-Oliver (2007). Postpartum depression in adolescent mothers: An integrative review of the literature. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 21, 289–298.

Restrepo-Méndez, María Clara, Debbie A. Lawlor, Bernardo L. Horta, Alicia Matijasevich, Iná S. Santos, Ana M. B. Menezes, Fernando C. Barros, and Cesar G. Victora (2015). The association of maternal age with birthweight and gestational age: A cross-cohort comparison. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 29, 31–40.

Rosenzweig, Mark R., and Kenneth I. Wolpin (1995). Sisters, siblings, and mothers: The effect of teenage childbearing on birth outcomes in a dynamic family context. Econometrica, 63, 303–326.

Rutstein, Shea O. (2005). Effects of preceding birth intervals on neonatal, infant, and under-five mortality and nutritional status in developing countries. International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, 89, S7–S24.

Senderowitz, Judith (1995). Adolescent health: Reassessing the passage to adulthood. World Bank.

Trommlerová, Sofia K. (2020). When children have children: The effects of child marriages and teenage pregnancies on early childhood mortality in Bangladesh. Economics & Human Biology, 39, 100904.

UNFPA (2012). Marrying too young: End child marriage. United Nations Population Fund.

Wahhaj, Zaki (2018). An economic model of early marriage. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 152, 147–176.

Weldearegawi, Berhe, Yohannes Adama Melaku, Semaw Ferede Abera, Yemane Ashebir, Fisaha Haile, Afework Mulugeta, Frehiwot Eshetu, and Mark Spigt (2015). Infant mortality and causes of infant deaths in rural Ethiopia: A population-based cohort study. BMC Public Health, 15, 1–7.

WHO (2019). Adolescent pregnancy: Fact sheet. World Health Organization.

Yount, Kathryn M., AliceAnn Crandall, and Yuk Fai Cheong (2018). Women’s age at first marriage and long-term economic empowerment in Egypt. World Development, 102, 124–134.

Zabin, Laurie Schwab, and Karungari Kiragu (1998). The health consequences of adolescent sexual and fertility behavior in sub-Saharan Africa. Studies in Family Planning, 210–232.