Early childbearing and its consequences on fertility behavior and socio-economic characteristics of Indonesian women

Although the global fertility has been declined dramatically during the past three decades, adolescents’ pregnancy and early motherhood remain a problem in many societies. Indonesian Demographic and Health Survey recorded, during the past decade, an average of 10 percent Indonesian women have started childbearing before the age of 18; 8 percent are already mothers, and 2 percent are currently pregnant with their first child. The socio-economic and health consequences of adolescent’s motherhood have been documented widely, yet, little is known in the Indonesian context. Therefore, this study attempts to look at the consequences of early childbearing on fertility behavior and socio-economic characteristics of ever-married women at the end of their reproductive careers (45-49 years old) to picture the effect of early childbearing in the long run.

 

This study employed three rounds of Indonesian Demographic and Health Survey in 2002, 2007 and 2012. A total of 29,996 women in 2002; 33,880 in 2007 and 47,553 in 2012 who were eligible was determined as the population of the study. Ever married women at the end of the reproductive age (45-49) were selected as sample. Those who have the first child before 19 was defined as early child bearers, otherwise, later child bearers. Binary and multinomial logistics regression analysis was applied to investigate the effect of early child bearing to women’s later life.

 

About forty percent of the samples from the three surveys started child rearing just at or before 18. The national pattern is also followed by regional models, wherein most of the regions, except for Kalimantan and Sulawesi Maluku, the proportion of early child bearers tends to decrease in the most recent survey. Young women who gave birth early are more likely to have more children, to postpone contraceptive use and less likely to have a single marriage and remain living with their partner. Every 1 year increase in the age of first birth will multiply the odds of the women to space their second birth for 12-23 months by 1.046 times.

 

Early child bearers are also having worse-off educational attainment and autonomy compared to their later counterparts. Statistical analysis confirmed that delaying 1 year in the age of first birth will multiply the odds of a woman to complete higher education by 1.073 times rather than no education. Women who started child bearing later are 1.260 times more likely to be more autonomous compared to those who gave birth early.