Population Institute

ABSTRACT

Adolescent pregnancy remains a pressing population issue in the Philippines. The recurrence of adolescent pregnancies within families further raises concerns about cyclical patterns that can extend across generations. This study examines the effects of a family history of adolescent pregnancy on early childbearing among young women and assesses whether two dimensions of family characteristics, family socioeconomic status and family dynamics, moderate these associations. Using data from the 2021 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study, the analysis focuses on 2,330 female respondents aged 20–24. Adolescent pregnancy was defined as a pregnancy occurring between the ages of 10 and 19 years. Family history of adolescent pregnancy was defined as having a mother or father who had their first child before age 20, or having at least one sibling who experienced or caused a pregnancy before age 18.

Results indicate that 23% of young women aged 20 to 24 years old experienced pregnancy before age 20. In addition, 28% have a mother, 9% have a father, and 13% have a sibling who also experienced an adolescent pregnancy. Binary logistic regression results show that a maternal history of adolescent pregnancy doubled the odds of early pregnancy among young women, while a sibling’s history increased the odds more than threefold. In contrast, father’s involvement in adolescent pregnancy was not significantly associated with daughters’ early pregnancy. College-educated parents, being raised by both parents, and a positive parental relationship emerged as strong protective factors. Household economic status significantly modified the association between maternal history and early pregnancy: among non-poor women, maternal history substantially increased the predicted probability of adolescent pregnancy, whereas among poor women, the elevated baseline risk overshadowed the intergenerational effect.

Overall, the findings underscore the need to identify families in which adolescent pregnancy risk is concentrated and to design interventions that simultaneously reduce structural disadvantage and disrupt intergenerational patterns of early childbearing.

Keywords: Adolescent pregnancy, Intergenerational transmission, Moderating effect, Family characteristics, Philippines, SDG3