Impact of School-Based Support on Educational Outcomes of Teen-Mothers: Evidence From Linked Administrative Data

Date
2017-06-02
Authors
Maloney, T
Vaithianathan, R
Wilson, M
Staneva, A
Jiang, N
Supervisor
Item type
Journal article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Abstract

Teen Parent Units (TPUs) provide education and support for high school students who are pregnant or parents in New Zealand. They provide childcare, links to health and other social services, guidance and mentoring. Because this programme is only available in some schools, evaluation is possible using teen mothers and schools in other geographic areas as controls. Using administrative data, this study evaluates the impact of TPUs on school attendance and completion outcomes amongst nearly all teen mothers born between 1991 and 1994 in New Zealand. We find that young women who had access to TPUs were less likely to dropout of school and more likely to complete school qualifications. Among all teen mothers, access to a TPU at or prior to conception significantly increased the probability of school enrolment after giving birth. Among teen mothers enrolled in school post-birth, TPU access substantially increased the probabilities of completing formal high school qualifications.

Description
Keywords
Educational economics; Human capital; Teenage pregnancies; High school dropouts; Government intervention
Source
New Zealand Economic Papers, DOI: 10.1080/00779954.2021.1948909
Rights statement
Copyright © 2021 Taylor & Francis. Authors retain the right to place his/her pre-publication version of the work on a personal website or institutional repository as an electronic file for personal or professional use, but not for commercial sale or for any systematic external distribution by a third. This is an electronic version of an article published in (see Citation). New Zealand Economic Papers is available online at: www.tandfonline.com with the open URL of your article (see Publisher’s Version).