The Impact of Educational Attainment on Early Childbearing: An Instrument Variable Probit (IVP) Analysis (Thesis Sample)

School of Economics
University of the Philippines Diliman
Diliman, Quezon City
The Impact of Educational Attainment on Early Childbearing: An Instrument Variable Probit (IVP) Analysis
Economics 199
Thesis Adviser
Esguerra, Manuel, PhD.
Submitted by:
Mauricio, Kim Alisson G.
2015-03410
Sangalang, Corinne F.
2015-14461
May 2019
HONOR STATEMENT
We have not cheated, plagiarized, nor received any unauthorized assistance in the completion of this paper
We have obtained the required prior consent for the use of the data for this research.
We understand that the University of the Philippines may impose the commensurate sanctions and penalties for instances of academic dishonesty committed in the completion of this paper.
Kim Alisson G. MauricioCorinne F. Sangalang
WAIVER
Relevant portions of this work may be quoted and used for research and other scholarly purposes, provided the proper citation is made.
Kim Alisson G. Mauricio Corinne F. Sangalang
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank everyone who has been with us through this journey. To our friends and family who gave us their never ending love and support.
We offer our deepest appreciation to our thesis adviser, Dr Emmanuel Esguerra for his immense knowledge, invaluable comments and suggestions that helped to improve the quality of this work. Without his guidance and supervision this paper could have not been possible. We would also like to thank Dr. Karl Jandoc for helping us in our econometric model.
We express our warmest gratitude to our parents; Mr. Anthony Joy Mauricio, Mrs. Kenneth Mauricio, Mr. Jose Cesar Sangalang, and Mrs. Maria Luisa Sangalang for their constant encouragements and for being an inspiration through the time we spent working on this paper. We would also like to thank our siblings; Ms. Alyssa Joi Mauricio, Mr. Carl Vince Sangalang, and Ms. Cathlene Sangalang for their unwavering support.
ABSTRACT
This paper aims to investigate the relationship between educational attainment and the likelihood of experiencing an early childbirth. The study intends to aid policy-makers in making decisions regarding the importance of education as a deterrent to the prevalence of early pregnancy among adolescents. Due to the presence of an endogeneity problem that might bias the result we propose an empirical approach based on instrumental variables to deal with this problem. Data for five survey rounds from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey (CLHNS) were employed.
903 female index children aged 21 and below were included in the sample. Our analyses control for possible confounding factors, including individual and family background characteristics, and state economic conditions. Our results suggest that, female children with higher level of educational attainment have a lower likelihood of experiencing an early childbirth. We, therefore, conclude that retaining the female children and adolescents in schools will lessen their probability of getting pregnant at a young age.
Keywords: Metropolitan Cebu, educational attainment, early pregnancy, endogeneity, instrumental variables probit (IVP)
Table of Contents
1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………...1
1.1 Teen Birth Rate in the Philippines……………………………………………………....1
1.2 Problematic Social Outcomes of Teen Childbearing…………………………………....2
1.3 Relevance of Discussions of Teen Childbearing……………………………………......2
1.4 Purpose of the study…….……………………………………………………………….3
2. Review of Related Literature………………………………………………………...…....4
2.1 Early School Failure as a Predictor of Teenage Pregnancy and Marriage……………...4
2.2 The Impact of Academic Performance on Early Childbearing………………………. .5
2.3 The Impact of Parents Educational Attainment on Early Childbearing………………...5
2.4 The Impact of Income Inequality on Early Childbearing……………………………….6
2.5 Impact of Background Characteristics on Early Childbearing……………………….....6
2.6 The Opportunity Cost of Early Childbearing…………………………………………...72.7 Conceptual Framework and Hypothesis………………………………………………...7
3. Methodology
3.1 Econometric Issues……………………………………………………………….……..9
3.2 Analytical Model……………………………………………………………………………......10
4. Data………………………………………………………………………………………………….14
4.1 Data Description………………………………………………………………………………14
4.2 Descriptive Statistics………………………………………………………………………….15
4.3 Index Child Demographics in Metropolitan Cebu…………………………………………16
5. Results……………………………………………………………………………………...18
6. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………22
References.......................................................................................................................................24