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Parental Separation and Children's Education-Changes Over Time?
Sanna Kailaheimo-Lönnqvist1,2,3,4,5, Marika Jalovaara6, Mikko Myrskylä7,8,9,10
1University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. sanna.kailaheimo-lonnqvist@helsinki.fi.
Parental separation negatively impacts children's educational achievement, with this effect remaining consistent across birth cohorts. The influence of separation on education is similar regardless of parental union type or socioeconomic background.
Area of Science:
- Sociology
- Education
- Demography
Background:
- Previous research on parental separation and child education primarily focused on marital dissolution at a single time point.
- Limited understanding exists regarding changes in this association across different birth cohorts and union types.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the temporal stability of the association between parental separation and children's educational outcomes.
- To examine variations in this association based on parental union type (marriage vs. cohabitation) and socioeconomic family background.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Finnish total population register data for child cohorts born between 1987 and 2003 (N=967,242).
- Analyzed grade point averages, secondary, and tertiary education attainment.
- Employed linear regression and linear probability models with family-clustered standard errors.
Main Results:
- A consistent negative association was found between parental separation and educational achievement across all birth cohorts.
- Differences in this association based on parental union type and socioeconomic background were minimal.
- The negative impact of parental separation on education has remained stable over time.
Conclusions:
- The consequences of parental separation on children's educational achievement have not significantly changed over time.
- Parental union type and socioeconomic family background show limited influence on the educational impact of parental separation.
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