Teenage Welfare Receipt and Subsequent Dependence Among Black Adolescent Mothers

Abstract

Black teenage mothers who receive benefits through Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) around the time they give birth are more likely to be receiving AFDC at age 26 than are other black teenage mothers or women who do not have a teenage birth, even after adjustments are made for differences in parental background and the economic accomplishments of siblings. Moreover, they are also more likely to have a lower earned family income and a lower total family income (when transfer income such as AFDC is taken into account). The results of this analysis suggest that AFDC receipt around the time of a nonmarital teenage birth itself may be an independent cause of future economic problems for these young mothers, although they do not elucidate the causal mechanism by which such an association might operate