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Death and Divorce: The Long Term Consequences of Parental Loss on Adolescents

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Author Info
Miles Corak

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Abstract

Two quasi-experiments are used to estimate the impact of parental divorce on the adult incomes and labour market behaviour of adolescents, as well as on their use of social programs, and their marital/fertility behaviour. These involve the use of individuals experiencing the death of a parent, and legislative changes to the Canadian divorce law in 1986. Parental loss by death is assumed to be exogenous; the experience of children with a bereaved background offering a benchmark to assess the endogeneity of parental loss through divorce. Differences between individuals with divorced parents and those from intact and bereaved families significantly overstate the impact of divorce across a broad range of outcomes. When background characteristics are controlled for - most notably the income and labour market activity of parents in the years leading up to the divorce - parental divorce seems to influence the marital decisions of adolescents, but not their labour market outcomes. Adolescents whose parents divorced tend to put off marriage, and once married suffer a greater likelihood of marital instability, but their earnings and incomes are not on average much different from others.

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Paper provided by McMaster University in its series Canadian International Labour Network Working Papers with number 39.

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Handle: RePEc:mcm:cilnwp:39

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  1. Philip K. Robins & David H. Greenberg & Paul Fronstin, 2001. "Parental disruption and the labour market performance of children when they reach adulthood," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 137-172. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. G. D. Sandefur & T. Wells, . "Using Siblings to Investigate the Effects of Family Structure on Educational Attainment," Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Papers 1144-97, University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty. [Downloadable!]
  3. Manski, C.F. & Sandefur, G.D. & Mclanahan, S. & Powers, D., 1990. "Alternative Estimates Of The Effect Of Family Stucture During Adolescence On Hight School Graduation," Working papers 90-31, Wisconsin Madison - Social Systems.
  4. Kathleen E Kiernan, 1997. "The Legacy of Parental Divorce: Social, economic and demographic experiences in adulthood," CASE Papers 01, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  5. Corak, Miles & Heisz, Andrew, 1998. "The Intergenerational Earnings and Income Mobility of Canadian Men: Evidence from Longitudinal Income Tax Data," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 1998113e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch. [Downloadable!]
  6. 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. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Meyer, Bruce D, 1995. "Natural and Quasi-experiments in Economics," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 13(2), pages 151-61, April.
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  2. Sanz de Galdeano, Anna & Vuri, Daniela, 2004. "Does Parental Divorce Affect Adolescents' Cognitive Development? Evidence from Longitudinal Data," IZA Discussion Papers 1206, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  3. Heather Antecol & Kelly Bedard & Eric Helland, 2001. "Does Single Parenthood Increase the Probability of Teenage Promiscuity, Drug Use, and Crime? Evidence from Divorce Law Changes," University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series 8-02, Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Francesconi, Marco & Jenkins, Stephen P & Siedler, Thomas, 2005. "Childhood Family Structure and Schooling Outcomes: Evidence for Germany," CEPR Discussion Papers 5362, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Anna Sanz De Galdeano, 2004. "Does Parental Divorce Affect Adolescents' Cognitive Development? Evidence from Longitudinal Data," CSEF Working Papers 128, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy. [Downloadable!]
  6. Philip Oreopoulos, 2006. "The Long-Run Consequences of Living in a Poor Neighborhood," Berkeley Program on Housing and Urban Policy, Working Paper Series 1041, Berkeley Program on Housing and Urban Policy. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Gonzalez, Libertad & Viitanen, Tarja, 2008. "The Long Term Effects of Legalizing Divorce on Children," IZA Discussion Papers 3789, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  9. James J. Heckman & Dimitriy V. Masterov, 2005. "Allander Series: Skill Policies for Scotland," NBER Working Papers 11032, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Baldwin, John R. & Peters, Valerie, 2001. "Training as a Human Resource Strategy: The Response to Staff Shortages and Technological Change," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2001154e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch. [Downloadable!]
  11. Baldwin, John R. & Brown, W. Mark & Vinodrai, Tara, 2001. "Dynamics of the Canadian Manufacturing Sector in Metropolitan and Rural Regions," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2001169e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch. [Downloadable!]
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  13. Vinodrai, Tara, 2001. "A Tale of Three Cities: The Dynamics of Manufacturing in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, 1976-1997," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2001177e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch. [Downloadable!]
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  15. Heckman, James J. & Masterov, Dimitriy V., 2004. "Skill Policies for Scotland," IZA Discussion Papers 1444, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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