Volume 54 - Article 7 | Pages 177–214  

Learning and reproductive health: Do early cognitive skills contribute to better sexual and reproductive health outcomes among adolescents in Ethiopia?

By Fatima Zahra, Erica Soler-Hampejsek, Nicole Haberland

Abstract

Background: Understanding the relationship between early learning and later fertility preferences and knowledge could yield important lessons for public policy in both the education and health sectors.

Methods: With data from the Young Lives study in Ethiopia, we use linear regression models to evaluate how reading and numeracy skills during middle childhood (age 8) and early adolescence (age 12) affect sexual and reproductive health (SRH) knowledge and desired fertility during middle adolescence (age 15). Additionally, we analyze whether learning trajectories are associated with these outcomes, and we test gender differences for all analyses.

Results: We find that better skills in numeracy are most consistently associated with higher SRH knowledge. Reading skills are most consistently associated with wanting fewer children and, to a lesser degree, wanting a first child at a later age. We also find that learning trajectories matter, particularly for better SRH knowledge and wanting fewer children.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that learning indicators, specifically literacy and numeracy, are possible antecedents on pathways between education and improved SRH outcomes.

Contribution: Overall, our study provides critical new evidence showing that children’s early learning experiences may influence their fertility preferences and SRH knowledge during adolescence.

Author’s Affiliation

• Fatima Zahra - Population Council, International EMAIL
• Erica Soler-Hampejsek - Independent researcher, International EMAIL
• Nicole Haberland - Population Council, International EMAIL

Similar articles in Demographic Research

Heterogeneity in women’s public and private agency across sub-Saharan Africa
Volume 55 - Article 7    | Keywords: agency, gender equality, health disparities, heterogeneity, latent class analysis, sub-Saharan Africa, sustainable development goals, women status

A personal perspective on the history of the World Fertility Survey and The Demographic and Health Surveys Program: An interview with Tom Pullum
Volume 55 - Article 6    | Keywords: Demographic Health Surveys, fertility, fertility, health, mortality, surveys, World Fertility Survey

Fertility timing and the birth squeeze
Volume 54 - Article 40    | Keywords: birth squeeze, cyclical populations, fertility, marriage, marriage squeeze, stable population

Educational differences in fertility recuperation: The role of partnership trajectories in Spain
Volume 54 - Article 38    | Keywords: births, fertility, partnership trajectories, recuperation, recuperation of births, Spain

Economic resources and parity among US women: A conjoint experiment on preferred family scenarios
Volume 54 - Article 34    | Keywords: conjoint analysis, economic resources, experiments, family, fertility