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Childhood Family Structure and Schooling Outcomes: Evidence for Germany

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  • Marco Francesconi
  • Stephen P. Jenkins
  • Thomas Siedler

Abstract

We analyse the impact on schooling outcomes of growing up in a family headed by a single mother. Growing up in a non-intact family in Germany is associated with worse outcomes in models that do not control for possible correlations between common unobserved determinants of family structure and educational performance. But once endogeneity is accounted for, whether by using sibling-difference estimators or two types of quasi-experiments, the evidence that family structure affects schooling outcomes is much less conclusive. Although almost all the point estimates indicate that non-intactness has an adverse effect on schooling outcomes, confidence intervals are large and span zero.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research in its series Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin with number 610.

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Length: 32 p.
Date of creation: 2006
Date of revision:
Publication status: Published in: Journal of Population Economics 23 (2010) Iss. 3, 1073-1103
Handle: RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp610

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Keywords: Childhood family structure; lone parenthood; educational success; sibling differences; instrumental variables; treatment effects;

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References

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  1. Painter, Gary & Levine, David I., 1999. "Family Structure and Youths' Outcomes: Which Correlations are Causal?," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt3g7899gz, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
  2. John F. Ermisch & Marco Francesconi, 2001. "Family structure and children's achievements," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 249-270.
  3. Robert Haveman & Barbara Wolfe, 1995. "The Determinants of Children's Attainments: A Review of Methods and Findings," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(4), pages 1829-1878, December.
  4. Shana Pribesh & Douglas Downey, 1999. "Why are residential and school moves associated with poor school performance?," Demography, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 521-534, November.
  5. Gang, Ira N. & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 1999. "Is Child like Parent? Educational Attainment and Ethnic Origin," IZA Discussion Papers 57, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  6. repec:att:wimass:9217 is not listed on IDEAS
  7. Wei-Jun J. Yeung & Greg J. Duncan & Martha S. Hill, 2001. "Childhood family structure and young adult behaviors," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 271-299.
  8. Jenkins, Stephen P. & Schluter, Christian, 2002. "The Effect of Family Income During Childhood on Later-Life Attainment: Evidence from Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 604, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  9. Corak, Miles Heisz, Andrew, 1999. "Death and Divorce: The Long-term Consequences of Parental Loss on Adolescents," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 1999135e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
  10. Roger Wojtkiewicz, 1993. "Simplicity and complexity in the effects of parental structure on high school graduation," Demography, Springer, vol. 30(4), pages 701-717, November.
  11. Marianne E. Page & Ann Huff Stevens, 2004. "The Economic Consequences of Absent Parents," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 39(1).
  12. Philippe Mahler & Rainer Winkelmann, 2005. "Single Motherhood and (Un)Equal EducationalOpportunities: Evidence for Germany," Working Papers 0512, University of Zurich, Socioeconomic Institute.
  13. Jonathan Gruber, 2004. "Is Making Divorce Easier Bad for Children? The Long-Run Implications of Unilateral Divorce," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(4), pages 799-834, October.
  14. John Ermisch & Marco Francesconi & David J. Pevalin, 2004. "Parental partnership and joblessness in childhood and their influence on young people's outcomes," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 167(1), pages 69-101.
  15. R. A. Wojtkiewicz, . "Simplicity and complexity in the effects of parental structure on high school graduation," Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Papers 993-93, University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty.
  16. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2000. "Parental Employment and Child Cognitive Development," NBER Working Papers 7666, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  17. Björklund, Anders & Ginther, Donna K. & Sundström, Marianne, 2004. "Family Structure and Child Outcomes in the United States and Sweden," IZA Discussion Papers 1259, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
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  19. Jonathan Gruber, 2000. "Is Making Divorce Easier Bad for Children? The Long Run Implications of Unilateral Divorce," NBER Working Papers 7968, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  20. Behrman, Jere R & Rosenzweig, Mark R & Taubman, Paul, 1994. "Endowments and the Allocation of Schooling in the Family and in the Marriage Market: The Twins Experiment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(6), pages 1131-74, December.
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Citations

Blog mentions

As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
  1. Less divorce: a good thing?
    by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2007-08-30 13:07:20
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Cited by:
  1. Cid, Alejandro, 2007. "Educational Gap and Family Structure in Uruguay," MPRA Paper 39911, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  2. repec:ese:iserwp:2009-25 is not listed on IDEAS
  3. Marcus Tamm, 2007. "Does Money Buy Higher Schooling?: Evidence from Secondary School Track Choice in Germany," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 41, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
  4. Anette Primdal Kvist & Helena Skyt Nielsen & Marianne Simonsen, 2011. "The effects of Children’s ADHD on Parents’ Relationship Dissolution and Labor Supply," Economics Working Papers 2011-14, School of Economics and Management, University of Aarhus.
  5. Adda, Jérôme & Björklund, Anders & Holmlund, Helena, 2011. "The Role of Mothers and Fathers in Providing Skills: Evidence from Parental Deaths," IZA Discussion Papers 5425, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  6. Schildberg-Hoerisch, Hannah, 2011. "Does parental employment affect children's educational attainment?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 1456-1467.
  7. Marco Francesconi & Stephen P. Jenkins & Thomas Siedler, 2010. "The effect of lone motherhood on the smoking behavior of young adults," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(11), pages 1377-1384.
  8. Wolter Hassink & Hannah Kiiver, 2007. "Age-dependent Effects of Socio-economic Background on Educational Attainment - Evidence from Germany," Working Papers 07-26, Utrecht School of Economics.
  9. Timo Hener & Helmut Rainer & Thomas Siedler, 2012. "Political Socialization in Flux? Linking Family Non-Intactness during Childhood to Adult Civic Engagement," CESifo Working Paper Series 3918, CESifo Group Munich.

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