Parental separation linked to poorer educational outcomes for children

The extensive study shows that parental separation has increased dramatically among less-educated families in Sweden since the 1950s, while the level has remained almost unchanged among highly educated households. The study is based on unique register data on residential geography for more than five million children born between 1952 and 2007, as well as school outcomes for children born between 1972 and 2007.

The study was conducted by the economists Yaroslav Yakymovych at IBF and Raoul van Maarseveen at the University of Cologne. For the first time, the researchers have been able to study all types of separations – not only cases where the parents were married – by reconstructing parents’ cohabitation rates historically using precise data on geographic location.

The results show that while families with highly educated parents are almost as stable today as they were in the 1950s, stability among less-educated families has declined dramatically. Today, fewer than 40 per cent of children whose mothers only have compulsory schooling live with both parents. For children whose mothers have completed upper secondary education, the corresponding figure is 58 per cent. This represents a clear contrast with the 1950s, when more than 80 per cent of children in all educational groups lived with both parents. 75 per cent of children whose mothers have a higher education live with both parents today.

The study also highlights large geographical differences. In the 1970s, separations were most common in major cities, whereas today they are most prevalent in former industrial regions. These changes may reflect deteriorating labour market prospects for less-educated groups or changing family norms.

Does it matter whether children live with cohabiting or separated parents? To answer this question, the researchers examined children’s educational outcomes. The study shows that the effects of parental separation on children’s “hard knowledge”, measured by results in national tests in Years 3, 6 and 9, appear surprisingly small. By contrast, children’s grades are strongly affected.

“Children who are younger than 16 when their parents separate tend to receive lower final grades in compulsory school than their siblings who were older at the time of separation. This has consequences for the choice of track in high school. The probability of enrolling in an academic track decrease by two to three percentage points for these children,” says Yaroslav Yakymovych, Researcher in Economics at IBF.

According to the researchers, the results suggest that separations may cause both short-term disruptions as well as effects that persist over time. The fact that the effects are mainly visible in teacher-awarded grades and not in standardised tests may be related to factors such as homework, structure, and teacher support.

“Overall, the results indicate that parental separation is more common in socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, which risks increasing socioeconomic inequalities in education. School-based interventions may be needed to mitigate the consequences for children’s schooling,” says Yaroslav Yakymovych.