This study focuses on the effects on survival of children of growing up in a family with or without both biological parents and/or stepparents. We use data from a representative sample of births from cohorts born in the Netherlands between 1850 and 1922. We first describe the long-term trends in the presence of fathers, mothers, and stepparents in families of children between birth and age 15. We then study the impact on survival of children of (a) the permanent absence of one of the parents, and (b) the entrance of a stepparent, focusing on changes in the effect over time and social class. Our analysis confirmed the more important role of the mother for survival, and showed that more durable effects of parental absence grew in importance over time, and revealed hardly any observed social class differences on mortality effects.
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Van Poppel, F., Van Gaalen, R. (2008). The Presence of Parents and Childhood Survival: The Passage of Social Time and Differences by Social Class. In: Bengtsson, T., Mineau, G.P. (eds) Kinship and Demographic Behavior in the Past. International Studies in Population, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6733-4_5
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