An Exploratory Study of the Connection of Mother's Age at Childbearing to Her Children's Delinquency in Four Data Sets

Abstract

In response to recent findings of a connection between mother's age at her first child's birth and her children's delinquency, knowledge of the increasing number of early childbearing mothers, and policy recommendations to confront related issues, the present article reports on an exploratory analysis of four data sets to document and understand the association. Although in some subgroups mother's age is related to delinquency, the relationship is heavily conditioned by presence of the child's father. The indirect effects of mother's age through biological, family dynamic, family size and structure, and community-level variables are also examined. Results are discussed separately for different racial and ethnic groups when the data allow. Conclusions include both recommendations for future research and a discussion of delinquency prevention policy.