ABSTRACT
The measured economic consequences of young teen childbearing fall into several broad categories. Out-of-pocket costs borne by parents for children's health care result from a combination of the fertility effects of early childbearing and the health consequences for children of being born to adolescent mothers. The per-child consequences of early childbearing for out-of-pocket health care costs for children are measured directly as part of the Kids Having Kids research. The costs of young teen childbearing to society pertain only to those consequences that reflect real changes in the resources available for consumption by the population at large. A portion of the higher health care costs is due to the larger family sizes, a portion is due to the higher fraction of care that is subsidized, and still another portion is due to the worse health conditions of children of young teen parents.
