Death and Divorce: The Long-Term Consequences of Parental Loss on Adolescents

Statistics Canada Analytical Studies Working Paper No. 135

31 Pages Posted: 20 Jan 2000

See all articles by Miles Corak

Miles Corak

Statistics Canada; University of Ottawa; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: June 9, 1999

Abstract

Two quasi-experiments are used to estimate the impact of parental divorce on the adult incomes and labour market behaviour of adolescents, as well as on their use of social programs, and their marital/fertility behaviour. These involve the use of individuals experiencing the death of a parent, and legislative changes to the Canadian divorce law in 1986. Parental loss by death is assumed to be exogenous, the experiences of children with a bereaved background offering a benchmark to assess the endogeneity of parental loss through divorce. Differences between individuals with divorced parents and those from intact and bereaved families significantly overstate the impact of divorce across a broad range of outcomes. When background characteristics are controlled for--most notably the income and labour market activity of parents in the years leading up to the divorce--parental divorce seems to influence the marital and fertility decisions of children, but not their labour market outcomes. Adolescents whose parents divorced tend to put off marriage, and once married suffer a greater likelihood of marital instability, but their earnings and incomes are not on average much different from others.

JEL Classification: J12, J13

Suggested Citation

Corak, Miles, Death and Divorce: The Long-Term Consequences of Parental Loss on Adolescents (June 9, 1999). Statistics Canada Analytical Studies Working Paper No. 135, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=182649 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.182649

Miles Corak (Contact Author)

Statistics Canada ( email )

Family and Labour Studies
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0T6
Canada
613-951-9047 (Phone)
613-951-5403 (Fax)

University of Ottawa

2292 Edwin Crescent
Ottawa, Ontario K2C 1H7
Canada

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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