Table A2.

Description of Variables used in Propensity score estimate

Born to a teenage mother indicator
Teen	Child’s mother gave birth to them before the age of 20
Mother’s characteristics:
Age	Mother’s age at wave 4 interview (2006) -quadratic included
Coloured	Indicator that the mother is coloured
Numeracy score	Age standardised numeracy score
Literacy score	Age standardised literacy score
Education	Highest grade completed by age 12
Failed	Mother failed at least one grade by age 12
Menarche	Age at menarche
Mother’s first sexual experience:
Sexual debut	Age of sexual debut -quadratic included
Condom	Used condom at first sex
Mother’s childhood household:
Poor	Mother defines her childhood household as poor or very poor
Drugs	When growing up (up to age 14) lived with someone who used street drugs
Alcoholic	When growing up (up to age 14) lived with someone who was an alcoholic
Live with mother	Proportion of first 13 years (age 0 to 12) that mother lived with her mother
Lived with father	Proportion of first 13 years (age 0 to 12) that mother lived with her father
Lived with maternal grndprnt(s)	Proportion of first 13 years (age 0 to 12)lived with her maternal grandparent(s)
Mother’s education	Mother’s mother’s highest level of education
Father’s education	Mother’s father’s highest level of education
Mother’s household in Wave 1:
Neighbourhood income	The logarithm of mean household income in Wave 1 subplace
Owned 5 books	Someone in Wave 1 household owned 5 or more books

The table details pre-childbearing observable characteristics from the Cape Area Panel Study data used to predict the probability of having a teen birth.