Shirley H. Liu () (Department of Economics, University of Miami) Frank Heiland () (Department of Economics and Center of Demography and Population Health, Florida State University)
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This study examines the causal link between parental non-marital relationship dissolution and the health status of young children. Using a representative sample of children all born out of wedlock drawn from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we investigate whether separation between unmarried biological parents has a causal effect on a child’s likelihood of developing asthma. Adopting a potential outcome framework to account for selection of relationship dissolution, we find that children whose parents separate within three years after childbirth are seven percent more likely to develop asthma by age three, compared to if their parents had remained romantically involved. We provide evidence that socioeconomically disadvantaged fathers are more likely to see the relationship with their child’s mother end, and selection into relationship dissolution along these dimensions helps explain the poorer health outcomes found among out-of-wedlock children whose parents separate.
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Paper provided by University of Miami, Department of Economics in its series Working Papers with number
0719.
Length: 40 pages Date of creation: Date of revision: Publication status: Forthcoming in "Casual Analysis in Population Studies: Concepts, Methods, Applications", European Studies of Population Handle: RePEc:mia:wpaper:0719
Find related papers by JEL classification: C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Production J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Gary S. Becker, 1974.
"A Theory of Marriage: Part II,"
NBER Chapters,
in: Marriage, Family, Human Capital, and Fertility, pages 11-26
National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!]
Sara McLanahan & Irwin Garfinkel & Jeanne Brooks-Gunn & Hongxin Zhao & Waldo Johnson, 1998.
"Unwed Fathers And Fragile Families,"
Working Papers
991, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
[Downloadable!]