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Caryn N. Bell University of Maryland: Loneke T. Blackman Carr Duke University: 2019-006

Research has documented a negative association between women’s educational attainment and early sexual intercourse, union formation, and pregnancy. However, the implications that school progression relative to age may have for the timing and order of such transitions are poorly understood. In this article, I argue that educational attainment has different implications depending on a student’s progression through school grades relative to her age. Using month of birth and age-at-school-entry policies to estimate the effect of advanced school progression by age, I show that it accelerates the occurrence of family formation and sexual onset among teenage women in Mexico. Focusing on girls aged 15–17 interviewed by a national survey, I find that those who progress through school ahead of their birth cohort have a higher probability of having had sex, been pregnant, and cohabited by the time of interview. I argue that this pattern of behaviors is explained by experiences that lead them to accelerate their transition to adulthood compared with same-age students with fewer completed school grades, such as exposure to relatively older peers in school and completing academic milestones earlier in life. Among girls who got pregnant, those with an advanced school progression by age are more likely to engage in drug use, alcohol consumption, and smoking before conception; more likely to have pregnancy-related health complications; and less likely to attend prenatal care visits. Thus, an advanced school progression by age has substantial implications for the health and well-being of young women, with potential intergenerational consequences.

Juvenile Arrest and Interpersonal Exclusion: Rejection, Withdrawal, and Homophily among Peers

Jessica N. Fish, Family Science, investigates sexual-orientation-related disparities in mental, behavioral, and physical health

Less Sex, Fewer Babies, Blame - no, wait . . .

Health Contextualized: Inequalities in Physiological Function at the Intersection of Race, Skin Color, and Place

The Long-Arm of Conflict: How Timing Shapes the Long-term Impacts of Childhood Exposure to War

Police Contact, Mental Health, and Health Disparities among Urban Teens

The Impact of Parental Involvement Laws on the Abortion Rate of Minors

Who are LGBTQ People?: A Demographic Profile of a Growing Population