Abstract
Do children who live with both biological parents fare better than children in other types of family structures? Does the presence of step or half-siblings affect child well-being? This study examines the effect of family structure on young children's achievement addressing two sources of potential bias: (1) misclassification of blended families and (2) the omission of within-family and individual time-invariant unobserved characteristics. The results show that family structure, when defined using traditional classifications, has little effect on young children's achievement test scores. When the definition of family type is expanded, living in a blended family and living in some types of single mother families, appears to have a small, unfavorable relationship with children's achievement.
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was completed as part of a Ph.D. dissertation while the author was at Cornell University. Many thanks to Deborah Anderson, Donna Ginther, H. Elizabeth Peters, John Abowd, Robert Frank, Robert Pollak, Ramsey Shehadeh, the Cornell University Labor Economics seminar participants and two patient anonymous referees for their interest and helpful suggestions. All errors are the sole responsibility of the author.
Responsible editor: Christoph M. Schmidt.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gennetian, L.A. One or two parents? Half or step siblings? The effect of family structure on young children's achievement. J Popul Econ 18, 415–436 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-004-0215-0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-004-0215-0