Why Does Parental Divorce Lower Children’s Educational Attainment? A Causal Mediation Analysis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13090733 |
|---|---|
| Authors | J E Brand (0000-0002-6568-498X, University of California, Los Angeles, corresponding author), Ravaris Moore (Loyola Marymount University), Xi Song (0000-0003-3463-045X, University of Chicago), Y Xie (0000-0002-3240-8620, Princeton University) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 6 |
| Pages | 264-292 |
| Publication date | 2019-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sociological Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2330-6696 • E-ISSN: 2330-6696 |
| Publisher | Society for Sociological Science (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.15195/v6.a11 |
| PMID | 31187049 |
| OpenAlex | W2936937196 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 39 |
| References cited | 70 |
Mechanisms explaining the negative effects of parental divorce on children's attainment have long been conjectured and assessed. Yet few studies of parental divorce have carefully attended to the assumptions and methods necessary to estimate causal mediation effects. Applying a causal framework to linked U.S. panel data, we assess the degree to which parental divorce limits children's education among whites and nonwhites and whether observed lower levels of educational attainment are explained by postdivorce family conditions and children's skills. Our analyses yield three key findings. First, the negative effect of divorce on educational attainment, particularly college, is substantial for white children; by contrast, divorce does not lower the educational attainment of nonwhite children. Second, declines in family income explain as much as one- to two-thirds of the negative effect of parental divorce on white children's education. Family instability also helps explain the effect, particularly when divorce occurs in early childhood. Children's psychosocial skills explain about one-fifth of the effect, whereas children's cognitive skills play a minimal role. Third, among nonwhites, the minimal total effect on education is explained by the offsetting influence of postdivorce declines in family income and stability alongside increases in children's psychosocial and cognitive skills
Developmental psychology · Economics · Educational attainment · Mediation · Psychosocial · Sociology · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Psychology
Occupational gender segregation
When less conditioning provides better estimates
Handling Measurement Error and Omitted Confounders Considering Informativeness of the Confounding Effect under Mediation Modeling
Heterogeneous effects of parental death on secondary school track choice
Social connection and its prospective association with adolescent internalising and externalising symptoms
The role of the family in the view of failing students and teachers
Family Structure and Inequalities in Parents' Financial Investments in Children
Leveraging machine learning methods to estimate heterogeneous effects
Does Parental Separation Lower Genetic Influences on Children's School Performance
Parental union dissolution and children’s emotional and behavioral problems
Nonresident social fathering in African American single‐mother families
Parental Divorce in Childhood and the Accelerated Epigenetic Aging for Earlier and Later Cohorts
Interlinking structural racism and heteropatriarchy
Unequal effects of disruptive events
Single Parenthood and Child Development in Contemporary China
Integrating intercohort changes in the composition of social origin into OED triangle research
The implications of high-conflict divorce on adult–children
Baby steps to success? The impact of paid maternity leave on children’s long-term outcomes in the United States
Examining the Coping Strategies of Female Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence in Ghana
Parental absence and student academic performance in cross-national perspective
Is the gender-gap reversal a feedback loop? Demographic factors influencing gender-gap inequalities in tertiary education in European countries
Youth adversity, parental resources and educational attainment
Single Parenthood and the Poverty Debate
Caring for Children in Lower-SES Contexts
The effect of CEO succession on green technology innovation
Disparate Effects of Disruptive Events on Children
Inequality in the intergenerational economic mobility in single mother-headed households
Does Ethnicity Moderate the Union Dissolution Penalty for Women? A Register-based Analysis of Changes in Income Components
Socioeconomic Status, Genotype, and the Differential Effects of Parental Separation on Educational Attainment
The effect of parental separation on educational achievement
Stay Together for the Kids
Return migration and educational investments in children in China
Diverging Paths
Social Rigidity Across and Within Generations
Identifying the role of high school in educational inequality
Beyond the Binary
Parental education, divorce, and children's educational attainment
Recent Developments in Causal Inference and Machine Learning
Through the looking glass
Beyond College for All
Growing up with a single parent
Paying the Price
Causality
Mediation Analysis
Identification, Inference and Sensitivity Analysis for Causal Mediation Effects
Kindergarten skills and fifth-grade achievement
Longitudinal Studies of Effects of Divorce on Children in Great Britain and the United States
Self-Discipline Outdoes IQ in Predicting Academic Performance of Adolescents
Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing
Children of divorce in the 1990s
The Importance of Noncognitive Skills
Estimating Causal Effects from Large Data Sets Using Propensity Scores
Identifiability and Exchangeability for Direct and Indirect Effects
A general approach to causal mediation analysis.
Human Capital
Personality as a Predictor of College Performance
Mostly Harmless Econometrics
The Effects of Cognitive and Noncognitive Abilities on Labor Market Outcomes and Social Behavior
The Economics and Psychology of Inequality and Human DEvelopment
"Reflections on "Family Structure and Child Well-Being
Identifying Mechanisms Behind Policy Interventions via Causal Mediation Analysis
Families With Children and Adolescents
The impact of family structure transitions on youth achievement
Breaking Up Is Hard to Count
Family structure transitions and adolescent well-being
Estimating Heterogeneous Treatment Effects with Observational Data
Identification and Estimation of Causal Effects with Time-Varying Treatments and Time-Varying Outcomes
Heterogeneous Treatment Effects in the Presence of Self-Selection
How Much Does Childhood Poverty Affect the Life Chances of Children
The Educational and Early Occupational Attainment Process
Marriage and Divorce
Money, Work, and Marital Stability
Family Structure Transitions and Child Development
Consequences of Parental Divorce for Child Development
Parental divorce and the well-being of children
Family Instability and Children's Early Problem Behavior
Personality Traits and Occupational Attainment
The long-term consequences of parental divorce for children's educational attainment
Cohabitation and children's living arrangements
The Divorce Process and Young Children's Well-Being
A Quantitative Assessment of Lareau's Qualitative Conclusions About Class, Race, and Parenting
The Causal Effects of Father Absence
Relationship Churning and Parenting Stress Among Mothers and Fathers
Chronic and Proximate Depression Among Mothers
Remarriage and Stepfamilies
Research on Divorce
Partnership Transitions and Maternal Parenting
Parental Depression and Anxiety and Early Childhood Behavior Problems Across Family Types
Partnership Instability and Child Well-Being
Children's Well-Being during Parents' Marital Disruption Process
Family Environment and Adolescents' Well-Being Before and After Parents' Marital Disruption
Race Differences in Family Experience and Early Sexual Initiation
The Consequences of Divorce for Adults and Children
Understanding Heterogeneity in the Effects of Parental Separation on Educational Attainment in Britain
Job Displacement among Single Mothers
Life-course changes in the mediation of cognitive and non-cognitive skills for parental effects on children's academic achievement
Social and behavioral skills and the gender gap in early educational achievement
Family structure and the intergenerational transmission of educational advantage
Do skills and behaviors in high school matter? The contribution of noncognitive factors in explaining differences in educational attainment and earnings
| Unique citing works | 39 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 6,5 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 39 |