Family Structure and Youths' Outcomes: Which Correlations are Causal?

Gary Painter and David Levine

Journal of Human Resources, 2000, vol. 35, issue 3, 524-549

Abstract: Growing up in a family that lacks a biological father is correlated with lower education and higher rates of teen out-of-wedlock fertility. This study uses the National Educational Longitudinal Survey of 1988 (NELS) to examine the extent to which the apparent effects of divorce or remarriage during a youth's high-school years were not causal, but were due to preexisting disadvantages of the family or youth. The correlations between family structure and youth outcomes appear to be largely causal: neither divorce nor remarriage during a youth's high school years have a strong relation to preexisting characteristics of the youth or family.

Date: 2000
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Working Paper: Family Structure and Youths' Outcomes: Which Correlations are Causal? (1999)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:35:y:2000:i:3:p:524-549

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