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Teenage childbearing: structural determinants in developing countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Katherine Trent
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, State University of New York, Albany, USA

Summary

Data for a sample of 50 developing countries are analysed to investigate the social correlates of the teenage birth rate. Of five major factors considered as predictors of national birth rates (socioeconomic development, family planning programmes, women's status, the sex ratio, and marriage patterns), regression analyses reveal that only the average age at marriage for women has a significant effect on the teenage birth rate. In contrast, all variables except the sex ratio and the average age at marriage for women have a significant effect on the total fertility rate.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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