Teenage Pregnancy and School Dropouts in Texas

The United States has the highest rate of teenage pregnancyamong developed countries. In 2002, almost 800,000 teenagers becamepregnant in the U.S. (National Center for Health Statistics).Teenage pregnancy is associated with social and psychologicalsuffering, and is also a cause for school abandonment. This studyinvestigates the demographics of female students who dropped out ofTexas public schools, and the effects of the dropout event becauseof teenage pregnancy as compared to female dropouts who left schooldue to other reasons. It is a longitudinal study of five cohorts offemale dropouts, using data from the Texas Education Agency and theTexas Workforce Commission housed at the Green Center for the Studyof Science and Society (University of Texas, Dallas). The studyemploys econometric techniques to assess the effects of dropoutevent due to pregnancy on earnings, high school graduation, and GEDcertification (OLS and Logit regression models), as compared tofemale dropouts who left school because of other reasons. Thefindings suggest a significant negative effect on yearly earnings.The analyses are especially useful to social researchers, educatorsand policy-makers.