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Parental age at childbirth and offspring’s human capital in china: evidence from a national survey

Jiamin Gao, Beijing Normal University
Xiaoying Zheng, Peking University

A remarkable transition in the demographics of childbearing has been undergoing in China with a trend of postpone parenthood and a trade-off of child quantity with quality, yet little is known about the relationship of parental age at childbirth (PAC) with offspring’s human capital in China. The present study, using a nationally representative and population-based sample in China, examined the association between (PAC) and offspring’s onset of childhood disability as well as offspring’s education attainment. The results showed that teenage and advanced maternal age at childbirth were both positively associated with child disability, and parental education played a moderating role in the association between maternal age at delivery and child disability. Additionally, an inverted U-shaped association of PACs and offspring’s schooling was found, suggesting that offspring born to parents with PAC 25 to 34-year-old had more years of schooling as well as a greater likelihood to finish college compared to those with adolescent or elder parents. Offspring’s health condition, measured by disabled status, was partially mediated the linkage of PAC and offspring’s schooling. Efforts to prevent adolescent and advanced childbearing should be strengthened, and programs to enhance parental education and health conditions in childhood should be encouraged.

Keywords: Demographic and social surveys, Fertility and childbirth, Children and youth, Family demography

See extended abstract.

  Presented in Session P11.