The Power of Family? Change in Academic Achievement After Breakdown of the Biological Family

Keller, Tamás (2016) The Power of Family? Change in Academic Achievement After Breakdown of the Biological Family. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage. ISSN 1050-2556, Online ISSN: 1540-4811

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Abstract

There is fairly broad consensus among scholars that divorce damages pupils’ academic achievement. However, further clarification is necessary concerning the role of pupil characteristics immediately prior to this unpleasant event, and the extent to which the changing circumstances are reflected in the decline in school achievement. In this regard, more insight is provided into the social status gradient of the test-score gap. The empirical analysis is based on a unique Hungarian administrative educational panel data set covering 3 entire school cohorts. The sample contains 88,000 pupils. Approximately 5% of them experienced a breakdown in biological family sometime between 6th and 8th grade. Classroom fixed-effect regressions reveal that it is largely derived characteristics that account for the drop in test scores, rather than the changing material environment. Ruling out individual and classroom-level differences in test scores, the remain- ing test-score gap between those from intact and broken biological families is interpreted as a sign of damaged emotional stability.

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