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Parental divorce is not uniformly disruptive to children’s educational attainment

Author

Listed:
  • Jennie E. Brand

    (Department of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1551)

  • Ravaris Moore

    (Department of Sociology, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA 90045)

  • Xi Song

    (Department of Sociology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637-1767)

  • Yu Xie

    (Department of Sociology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544)

Abstract

Children whose parents divorce tend to have worse educational outcomes than children whose parents stay married. However, not all children respond identically to their parents divorcing. We focus on how the impact of parental divorce on children’s education varies by how likely or unlikely divorce was for those parents. We find a significant negative effect of parental divorce on educational attainment, particularly college attendance and completion, among children whose parents were unlikely to divorce. Families expecting marital stability, unprepared for disruption, may experience considerable adjustment difficulties when divorce occurs, leading to negative outcomes for children. By contrast, we find no effect of parental divorce among children whose parents were likely to divorce. Children of high-risk marriages, who face many social disadvantages over childhood irrespective of parental marital status, may anticipate or otherwise accommodate to the dissolution of their parents’ marriage. Our results suggest that family disruption does not uniformly disrupt children’s attainment.

Suggested Citation

  • Jennie E. Brand & Ravaris Moore & Xi Song & Yu Xie, 2019. "Parental divorce is not uniformly disruptive to children’s educational attainment," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 116(15), pages 7266-7271, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nas:journl:v:116:y:2019:p:7266-7271
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Alessandro Nallo & Daniel Oesch, 2023. "The Intergenerational Transmission of Family Dissolution: How it Varies by Social Class Origin and Birth Cohort," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 39(1), pages 1-33, December.
    2. Regina S. Baker, 2022. "Ethno-Racial Variation in Single Motherhood Prevalences and Penalties for Child Poverty in the United States, 1995–2018," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 702(1), pages 20-36, July.
    3. Caitlin E. Ahearn & Jennie E. Brand & Xiang Zhou, 2023. "How, and For Whom, Does Higher Education Increase Voting?," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 64(4), pages 574-597, June.
    4. Trinidad, Jose Eos, 2021. "Social consequences and contexts of adverse childhood experiences," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    5. Raffaele Guetto & Fabrizio Bernardi & Francesca Zanasi, 2022. "Parental education, divorce, and children’s educational attainment: Evidence from a comparative analysis," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 46(3), pages 65-96.

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