Journal Article

Parental separation and children’s education - changes over time?

Kailaheimo-Lönnqvist, S., Jalovaara, M., Myrskylä, M.
European Journal of Population, 41:1, 1–35 (2025)
Open Access

Abstract

The association between parental separation and children’s education has been widely studied, but mainly at a single time point and for marital dissolution only. We examine whether the (generally negative) association has changed across cohorts for several educational outcomes and whether the association difers by parental union type (marriage, cohabitation) and socioeconomic family background (parental edu‑ cation).We use Finnish total population register data. We focus on child cohorts born between 1987 and 2003 (N=967,242) and analyse grade point averages, secondary education and tertiary education using linear regression and linear probability mod‑ els with standard errors clustered within families.The association between parental separation and educational achievement is negative and has remained similar across the birth cohorts. Diferences according to parental union type and socioeconomic family background are rather small. The stability of the association over time sug‑ gests that the consequences of parental separation on children’s education have not changed over time, and they do not depend much on parental union type or family background.

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