Does Parental Divorce Affect Adolescents' Cognitive Development? Evidence from Longitudinal Data

Sanz-de-Galdeano, Anna; Vuri, Daniela

doi:10.2139/ssrn.569164

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Does Parental Divorce Affect Adolescents' Cognitive Development? Evidence from Longitudinal Data

26 Pages Posted: 26 Jul 2004

See all articles by Anna Sanz-de-Galdeano

Anna Sanz-de-Galdeano

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Daniela Vuri

University of Rome Tor Vergata; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research)

Date Written: July 2004

Abstract

In this paper we analyse data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 to investigate whether experiencing parental divorce during adolescence reduces measured cognitive ability. To account for the potential endogeneity of parental divorce we employ a difference-in-differences model that relies on observing teenagers' outcomes before and after divorce. We find that parental divorce does not negatively affect teenagers' cognitive development. Our results also suggest that cross-section estimates overstate the detrimental effect of parental divorce.

Keywords: divorce, difference in differences, cognitive development

JEL Classification: J12

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Sanz De Galdeano, Anna and Vuri, Daniela, Does Parental Divorce Affect Adolescents' Cognitive Development? Evidence from Longitudinal Data (July 2004). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=569164 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.569164