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Abstract
Every year, around 14,4% of babies in Chile are born to a teenage mother (i.e. younger
than 19 years old). The majorities of these mothers are poor, unmarried, and are less
likely to complete their high school education when compared to adolescents who do
not have children. In this paper we explore the relationship between educational
expectations and teenage pregnancy. The existence of alternatives and life choices can
affect the desire of childbearing, sex behavior and protection. In Chile, researchers have
documented higher school dropout rates among teenage mothers as compared to their
peers who do not have children early in life. Other researchers have proposed that
adolescents at risk of becoming teenage mothers have low expectations regarding their
potential educational attainments and their future life plans involve having children
early in life. For that reason we propose a field experiment where schools drawn from
the poorest set of schools are randomly selected to be part of either a treatment or a
control group. The treatment groups receive information about loans and scholarships
for tertiary education through role models via a DVD and a webpage. The control
groups receive no information additional to the usual information provided by their
schools. Through the information intervention, we expect to influence adolescents’
beliefs and attitudes towards their future goals and consequently their plans and
expectations about the timing of their first child.
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