Analysing the importance of parent-daughter relationship quality: the case of teenage sexual and reproductive behaviour

Afra R. Chowdhury, Brown University

The study analyses the effect of parent-daughter relationship quality in early adolescence on her risk of becoming sexually active, non-use of contraception, and pregnancy. Prior research suggests a positive association between growing up in a non-intact family and the risk of pre-marital teenage pregnancy. Family formation and sexual behaviors of adolescents also differ according to their childhood socialization, level of social and parental control and their experience with family instability. Researchers in early childhood development suggest that parent-child interactions during early childhood have lasting consequences for later behaviours. This paper takes a modest step in contributing to the literature by exploring the effect of parent-daughter relationship quality on teenage daughters’ sexual and reproductive behavior. For the analyses the paper uses the 'National (US)Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997' (NLSY97)data. The data is analyzed with logistic and multinomial discrete time hazard models.