Education Delayed: Family Structure and Postnatal Educational Attainment

Carol Ann MacGregor
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Carol Ann MacGregor: Princeton University

No 1173, Working Papers from Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing.

Abstract: The rise in cohabitation and the concentration of single parenthood among the lower educated warrants an examination of postnatal educational attainment that considers differences by family structure. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, I examine the prevalence of obtaining additional education (N=3812) in the five years after a birth. Controlling for mothers? background and resources, married mothers are less likely to obtain additional education. Cohabiting mothers return to school more often than married mothers but less often than lone-mothers. Women who experience a union dissolution or divorce are also more likely to obtain additional education. Postnatal educational attainment appears to be an alternate pathway to economic security for women without stable romantic partnerships.

Keywords: Education; Family Structure; Fragile Families (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 I32 J12 J13 O51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-07
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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