Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/35992 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 4553
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We analyze the effect of a Chilean school reform that lengthened the school day from half to full-day shifts on the likelihood that adolescent girls become mothers. By increasing the number of hours spent in school, the reform curtails opportunities to engage in risky sexual behaviors. Using Chile's socio-economic household surveys and administrative data from the Ministry of Education from 19902006, we exploit the exogenous time and regional variation in the implementation of the reform to identify the effects of increased education and adult supervision on the likelihood that adolescent girls become mothers. We find that access to full-day schools reduces the probability of becoming an adolescent mother among poor families and in urban areas: an increase in full-day municipal enrollment of 20% reduces the likelihood of teen motherhood by 5%.
Subjects: 
Adolescent motherhood
adolescent pregnancy
school day reform
Chile
JEL: 
H51
I18
I28
J13
O15
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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