Identifying the Macro-Level Drivers of Adolescent Fertility Rate in Latin America: The Role of School-Based Sexuality Education

ABSTRACT

This study seeks to explain macrolevel drivers of adolescent fertility rate using a panel data set derived from 17 Latin American countries over a period of 16 years (1997–2012). While many studies of adolescent fertility have focused on individual-level explanations, this study explores whether adolescent fertility rate is correlated to country-level determinants, specifically legislation adoption that guarantees access to school-based sexuality education, emergency contraception, and abortion. After controlling for other country-level factors, we find that countries that have adopted legislation on school-based sexuality education and those with legal access to abortion (under one or more restrictions) have lower adolescent fertility rates.

KEYWORDS:

• Abortion
• adolescent fertility rate
• emergency
• Latin America
• sexuality education

Notes

1 Throughout this paper, adolescent fertility rate refers to the number of births per 1,000 female adolescents ages 15–19 (Hamilton & Ventura, 2012; UN, 2014b).

2 The total fertility rate represents the number of children that would be born to a woman if she were to live to the end of her childbearing years and bear children in accordance with current age-specific fertility rates (UN, 2010).

3 The adolescent fertility rate in the poorest quintile is between three and eight times higher than in the richest quintile (Flórez & Soto, 2006; UNICEF, 2008).

4 Paraguay is an exception. According to its policy, civil society is responsible for sexuality education (INSP, 2008).

5 Additional information was compiled using https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/population/abortion/abortionlaws.htm and http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/abortion/index.htm

6 http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/world-arc.htm

7 http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.RUR.TOTL.ZS and http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.FE.ZS

8 http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/constudies.html

9 http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTRESEARCH/0,,contentMDK:20649465∼pagePK:64214825∼piPK:64214943∼theSitePK:469382,00.html

10 http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IT.NET.USER.P2

11 http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/mean-years-schooling-adults-years

12 http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD

13 We thank the anonymous reviewer for pointing this out.

14 We thank an anonymous reviewer for pointing this out.