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The Legacy of Parental Divorce: Social, economic and demographic experiences in adulthood

Author

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  • Kathleen E Kiernan

Abstract

This study addresses three questions. Firstly, to what extent does divorce during childhood have long-term consequences for the educational attainment, economic situation, partnership formation and dissolution, and parenthood behaviour in adulthood? We show that in most of these domains children who experience parental divorce in childhood have more negative experiences than children reared by both their parents. However, in answering our second question, as to whether child and family characteristics preceding divorce attenuates the relationship between the divorce itself and adult outcomes, we show that for the non-demographic ones there is evidence of powerful selection effects operating, particularly to do with financial hardship. In other words, children who grow up with both biological parents may end up better off educationally and economically largely because they were advantaged to begin with, not necessarily because their parents stayed together. The third question was - if parents remain together until their children are grown up before separating does this lessen the legacy of divorce on their adult children's lives? The answer is in the affirmative for most of the adult outcomes, but the instability of partnerships and marriages was as high amongst those whose parents separated after they had grown up as those who experienced parental divorce during childhood.

Suggested Citation

  • Kathleen E Kiernan, 1997. "The Legacy of Parental Divorce: Social, economic and demographic experiences in adulthood," CASE Papers case01, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
  • Handle: RePEc:cep:sticas:case01
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    File URL: https://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/cp/paper1.pdf
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Christa Hubers & Caroline Dewilde & Paul M. de Graaf, 2018. "Parental marital dissolution and the intergenerational transmission of homeownership," Housing Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(2), pages 247-283, February.
    2. Corak, Miles, 2001. "Death and Divorce: The Long-Term Consequences of Parental Loss on Adolescents," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(3), pages 682-715, July.
    3. Marco Francesconi, 2005. "An evaluation of the childhood family structure measures from the sixth wave of the British Household Panel Survey," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 168(3), pages 539-566, July.
    4. Letizia Mencarini & Elena Meroni & Chiara Pronzato, 2011. "Leaving mum alone? The effect of parental divorce on children√≠s leaving home decisions," Working Papers 045, "Carlo F. Dondena" Centre for Research on Social Dynamics (DONDENA), Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi.
    5. Francesconi, Marco & Ermisch, John, 2002. "The effect of parents’ employment on children’s educational attainment: 2002 ed," ISER Working Paper Series 2002-21, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    6. Grace Lepone & Joakim Westerholm & Danika Wright, 2023. "Speculative trading preferences of retail investor birth cohorts," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(1), pages 555-574, March.
    7. Ermisch, John & Francesconi, Marco, 2000. "The Effect of Parents' Employment on Children's Educational Attainment," IZA Discussion Papers 215, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Martin Kreidl & Martina Štípková & Barbora Hubatková, 2017. "Parental separation and children’s education in a comparative perspective: Does the burden disappear when separation is more common?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(3), pages 73-110.
    9. Wendy Sigle-Rushton & John Hobcraft & Kathleen Kiernan, 2005. "Parental divorce and subsequent disadvantage: A cross-cohort comparison," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 42(3), pages 427-446, August.

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