The multigenerational effects of adolescent motherhood on school readiness: A population-based retrospective cohort study

BackgroundChildren born to adolescent mothers generally perform more poorly on school readiness assessments than their peers born to adult mothers. It is unknown, however, whether this relationship extends to the grandchildren of these adolescent mothers. This paper examines the multi-generational outcomes associated with adolescent motherhood by testing whether the grandchildren of adolescent mothers also have lower school readiness scores than their peers; we further assessed if this relationship was moderated by whether the child’s mother was an adolescent mother.MethodsWe used population-based data to conduct the retrospective cohort study of children born in Manitoba, Canada, 2000–2009, whose mothers were born 1979–1997 (n = 11,326). Overall school readiness and readiness on five domains of development were analyzed using logistic regression models.ResultsCompared with children whose mothers and grandmothers were both ≥ 20 at the birth of their first child, those born to grandmothers who were ConclusionsThese findings suggest a multigenerational effect of adolescent motherhood on school readiness.