Intergenerational transmission of young motherhood. Evidence from Sweden, 1986-2009

This study examines the intergenerational transmission of fertility patterns from mothers who had their first birth at young ages to their daughters using nationally representative longitudinal data from from population registers in Sweden, 1986-2009. It tests several mechanisms, including education, labor market attachment, socio-economic background, and family characteristics, that may intervene with the intergenerational transmission of reproductive behavior, to help explain to what extent and how early motherhood is reproduced across generations. We find that maternal age at first birth is a very strong determinant of daughters' entry into motherhood. Even after controlling for individual, background, and family factors, daughters of mothers who were relatively young when they started childbearing, are significantly more likely to have their first birth at young ages.