Intergenerational Patterns of Fertility Among Registered Indian Teenage Girls in Canada

In 2004, Registered Indian teenage girls aged 15 to 19 had a 94‰ fertility rate, 7 times the average Canadian rate for the same age group. Despite various general studies on the subject, there has been little interest in the past on the intergenerational character of teenage fertility. Analysis of data from the Indian Register of the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) reveals that, among Registered Indian teenage girls, the fertility of daughters of teenage mothers is systematically higher than for daughters of mothers aged 20 or older. While it is impossible to establish a direct link of causality, the results of this study demonstrate for the first time the intergenerational nature of teenage motherhood among Registered Indian girls