Policy Research Division Working Paper
no. 212. Although considerable attention has been paid to the
prevalence of adolescent childbearing in the less-developed world,
few studies have focused on the educational consequences of
schoolgirl pregnancy. Using data collected in 2001 in KwaZulu-Natal,
South Africa, this paper examines the factors associated with
schoolgirl pregnancy, as well as the likelihood of school dropout
and subsequent re-enrollment among pregnant schoolgirls. This
analysis triangulates data collected from birth histories, education
histories, and data concerning pregnancy to strengthen the
identification of young women who became pregnant while enrolled in
school and to define discrete periods of school interruption prior
to first pregnancy. We find that prior school performance—defined as
instances of grade repetition or non-pregnancy-related temporary
withdrawals from school—is strongly associated with a young woman's
likelihood of becoming pregnant while enrolled in school, dropping
out of school if she becomes pregnant, and not returning to school
following a pregnancy-related dropout. Young women who are the
primary caregivers to their children are also significantly more
likely to have left school than are women who shared or relinquished
childcare responsibilities. Furthermore, young women who lived with
an adult female were significantly more likely to return to school
following a pregnancy-related dropout. Given the increasing levels
of female school participation in sub-Saharan Africa, our findings
suggest that future studies will benefit from exploring the causal
relationships between prior school experiences, adolescent
reproductive behavior, and subsequent school attendance.
____________________________________________________________________