The Socio-Economic Characteristics of First Nation Teen Mothers

• Published in: International Indigenous Policy Journal
• Main Authors: Garner, Rochelle, Guimond, Eric, Senécal, Sacha
• Format: Report
• Language: unknown
• Published: Scholarship@Western 2013
• Subjects: teenage motherhood; socio-economic characteristics; First Nations; Census; Demography; Population; and Ecology; Family; Life Course; and Society; Inequality and Stratification; Race and Ethnicity; Indian
• Online Access: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/iipj/vol4/iss1/9; https://doi.org/10.18584/iipj.2013.4.1.9

Using data from the 2006 Census, this study examines the socio-economic characteristics of First Nations and non-Aboriginal teenage mothers, and compares these to those of non-teenage mothers in a cohort of women aged 25 to 29 years old. Results indicated that First Nations women were more likely than non-Aboriginal women to be teenage mothers. In general, teenage mothers were less likely to have graduated high school, more likely to live in overcrowded housing, and in a home in need of major repair. Furthermore, teenage mothers had lower household incomes after adjusting for the composition the household. Characteristics also differed significantly between First Nations and non-Aboriginal women, as well as between Registered Indian women living on- and off-reserve.