In and Out of Time: The Role of Parental Age in Shaping Young Adult Educational Outcomes

Abstract

Since the 1970s, maternal age at childbirth has steadily increased with the mean age for mothers’ first births reaching 27.3 in 2023, and this trend is projected to persist in future years. Employing a series of ordinary least squares regressions, this paper examines the role of parental age on young adult educational outcomes in three different educational thresholds. I extend this analysis through the examination of maternal age on behavioral outcomes that may serve as potential pathways for my main research question. The results reveal a consistent finding that parental age is primarily a proxy for underlying differences in parental socioeconomic status. Still, specific parental age groups and their effects provide insightful conclusions, and implications for future research and policy implementations.