Teenage childbearing and dropout from school in South Africa: Evidence from a household panel

This paper investigates the role that childbearing plays in the failure of teenage girls to complete their schooling in South Africa. Of women aged 20-34, only 33% who gave birth as teenagers had matriculated from Grade 12, compared to 57% of other women. The paper analysed nationally-representative panel data from the National Income Dynamics Study. It focuses on 671 young women aged 15-18 in 2008 who were re-contacted in 2010. Girls’ risk of becoming a mother during these two years was largely unrelated to their home circumstances. Only girls from households in the top 20% of the income distribution were less likely to give birth. What was more important was whether they were already 1+ grades behind at school. While having a baby usually halts girls’ schooling, girls who became mothers were already relatively unlikely to pass the matriculation exam. Moreover, although their socioeconomic background affects the attainment of younger girls, it is unimportant in this age group Thus, even though teenage childbearing limits young women’s life chances in South Africa, it appears to play a limited role in the reproduction of social disadvantage. However, one cannot infer that secondary schooling in South Africa is meritocratic: Lam et al. propose the more depressing conclusion that school attainment is no more than a lottery.