TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kreidl, Martin
A1  - Štípková, Martina
A1  - Hubatková, Barbora
T1  - Parental separation and children’s education in a comparative perspective: Does the burden disappear when separation is more common?
Y1  - 2017/01/05
JF  - Demographic Research
JO  - Demographic Research
SN  - 1435-9871
SP  - 73
EP  - 110
DO  - 10.4054/DemRes.2017.36.3
VL  - 36
IS  - 3
UR  - https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol36/3/
L1  - https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol36/3/36-3.pdf
L2  - https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol36/3/36-3.pdf
L3  - https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol36/3/files/readme.36-3.txt
L3  - https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol36/3/files/demographic-research.36-3.zip
N2  - Background: Parental breakup has, on average, a net negative effect on children’s education. However, it is unclear whether this negative effect changes when parental separation becomes more common. 

Objective: We studied the variations in the effect of parental separation on children’s chances of obtaining tertiary education across cohorts and countries with varying divorce rates. 

Methods: We applied country and cohort fixed-effect models as well as random-effect models to data from the first wave of the Generations and Gender Survey, complemented by selected macro-level indicators (divorce rate and educational expansion). 

Results: Country fixed-effect logistic regressions show that the negative effect of experiencing parental separation is stronger in more-recent birth cohorts. Random-intercept linear probability models confirm that the negative effect of parental breakup is significantly stronger when divorce is more common. 

Conclusions: The results support the low-conflict family dissolution hypothesis, which explains the trend by a rising proportion of low-conflict breakups. A child from a dissolving low-conflict family is likely to be negatively affected by family dissolution, whereas a child from a high-conflict dissolving family experiences relief. As divorce becomes more common and more low-conflict couples separate, more children are negatively affected, and hence, the average effect of breakup is more negative. 

Contribution: We show a significant variation in the size of the effect of parental separation on children’s education; the effect becomes more negative when family dissolution is more common. 

ER  -