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Maternal Household Decision-Making Autonomy and Adolescent Education in Honduras
Authors: C. Emily Hendrick, and Leticia Marteleto
Source: Population Research and Policy Review, 36(3): 415–439
Topic(s): Education
Household decision-making
Maternal health
Women's autonomy
Youth
Country: Latin American/Caribbean
  Honduras
Published: JUN 2017
Abstract: Maternal decision-making autonomy has been linked to positive outcomes for children’s health and well-being early in life in low- and middle-income countries throughout the world. However, there is a dearth of research examining if and how maternal autonomy continues to influence children’s outcomes into adolescence and whether it impacts other domains of children’s lives beyond health, such as their education. The goal of this study was to determine whether high maternal decision-making was associated with school enrollment for secondary school-aged youth in Honduras. Further, we aimed to assess whether the relationships between maternal autonomy and school enrollment varied by adolescents’ environmental contexts and individual characteristics such as gender. Our analytical sample included 6579 adolescents ages 12–16 living with their mothers from the Honduran Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) 2011–2012. We used stepwise logistic regression models to investigate the association between maternal household decision-making autonomy and adolescents’ school enrollment. Our findings suggest that adolescents, especially girls, benefit from their mothers’ high decision-making autonomy. Findings suggest that maternal decision-making autonomy promotes adolescents’ school enrollment above and beyond other maternal, household, and regional influences. Keywords Maternal decision-making autonomy Adolescence Girls Education Latin America Honduras Demographic and Health Surveys