Educational Attainment in Blended Families

34 Pages Posted: 1 Sep 2000 Last revised: 9 Jul 2022

See all articles by Anne Case

Anne Case

Princeton University - Research Program in Development Studies; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

I-Fen Lin

Bowling Green State University

Sara McLanahan

Princeton University - Princeton School of Public and International Affairs

Date Written: September 2000

Abstract

In this paper we compare the educational attainment of birth and non-birth children of women in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). We find that children raised by step, adoptive or foster mothers obtain significantly less education on average than do the birth children of the same women. Controlling for the women's fixed effects, the non-birth children of a woman receive on average one year less schooling than do her birth children, with the educational break occurring at the time children finish high school and begin college.

Suggested Citation

Case, Anne and Lin, I-Fen and McLanahan, Sara, Educational Attainment in Blended Families (September 2000). NBER Working Paper No. w7874, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=239493

Anne Case (Contact Author)

Princeton University - Research Program in Development Studies ( email )

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I-Fen Lin

Bowling Green State University ( email )

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Sara McLanahan

Princeton University - Princeton School of Public and International Affairs ( email )

Princeton University
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United States
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