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Does single pregnancy hurt birth outcomes among young mothers?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2021

Young-Il Kim  and
Jungmin Lee Open the ORCID record for Jungmin Lee [Opens in a new window]
Young-Il Kim
Affiliation:
University of the Fraser Valley & NERI at Sogang University, Abbotsford, BC, Canada
Jungmin Lee*
Affiliation:
Seoul National University & IZA, Seoul, the Republic of Korea
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: jmlee90@snu.ac.kr
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Abstract

Does single pregnancy adversely affect infant health? This is a challenging research question because there is selection in coresidence during pregnancy. We exploit quasi-natural variation in single pregnancy from the moment of conception to birth, arising from the reform of the marriageable age laws in Korea. The Korean birth certificate data are unique. They provide the information about the coresidence status in addition to the legal marital status. The coresidence start date allows us to identify the intensity of coresidence during pregnancy. We find that coresidence or legal marriage during pregnancy does not significantly affect birth outcomes.

Keywords

Birth outcomescoresidencemarriagemarriageable agesingle pregnancy
Type
Research Paper
Information
Journal of Demographic Economics , Volume 89 , Issue 2 , June 2023 , pp. 149 - 181
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain 2021

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