Divorced Fathers' Proximity and Children's Long Run Outcomes: Evidence from Norwegian Registry Data

Ariel Kalil (), Magne Mogstad, Mari Rege and Mark Votruba ()
Additional contact information
Ariel Kalil: University of Chicago
Mark Votruba: Case Western Reserve University

No 4715, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This study examines the link between divorced nonresident fathers' proximity and children's long-run outcomes using high-quality data from Norwegian population registers. We follow (from birth to young adulthood) 15,992 children born into married households in Norway in the years 1975-1979 whose parents divorce during his or her childhood. We observe the proximity of the child to his or her father in each year following the divorce and link proximity to children's educational and economic outcomes in young adulthood, controlling for a wide range of observable characteristics of the parents and the child. Our results show that closer proximity to the father following a divorce has, on average, a modest negative association with offspring's young-adult outcomes. The negative associations are stronger among children of highly-educated fathers. Complementary Norwegian survey data show that highly-educated fathers report more post-divorce conflict with their ex-wives as well as more contact with their children (measured in terms of the number of nights that the child spends at the fathers' house). Consequently, the father's relocation to a more distant location following the divorce may shelter the child from disruptions in the structure of the child's life as they split time between households and/or from post-divorce interparental conflict.

Keywords: fathers' proximity; divorce; child development; long-run outcomes; relocation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J12 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43 pages
Date: 2010-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ltv
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published - published in: Demography, 2011, 48 (3), 1005-1027

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp4715.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Divorced Fathers’ Proximity and Children’s Long-Run Outcomes: Evidence From Norwegian Registry Data (2011)
Working Paper: Divorced fathers’ proximity and children’s long run outcomes: Evidence from Norwegian registry data (2009)
Working Paper: Divorced Fathers' Proximity and Children's Long Run Outcomes. Evidence from Norwegian Registry Data (2009)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4715

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().