Family Structure and Stability Effects on Child Cognitive Performance

The study exploits rich data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) to distinguish between contemporaneous and dynamic family structure effects on child cognitive performance. Using race-specific sex-ratios to instrument for endogenous family structure, the model illustrates that the child does benefit from living with two-parents. However, this method does not take into account how changes in family structure over time affect cognitive ability. The OLS regression model with extensive covariates allows for a more dynamic analysis of family structure, showing that cognitive outcomes are statistically similar for children in stable single-parent and stable two-parent households. In addition, unstable families, characterized by divorce or remarriage, are shown to have adverse effects on cognitive performance relative to the stable single-parent family. The profound implication of these findings is that when it comes to producing positive child cognitive outcomes, stability of the family structure may be more important than the family structure type. JEL Classifications: J12, J13 Address all correspondence to Terry-Ann L. Craigie, 286 Wallace Hall, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, Princeton, NJ 08544 and email to [email protected]. The author gratefully acknowledges the guidance of Jeff Biddle, Sara McLanahan, Stephen Woodbury and Thomas Jeitschko in this research and also thanks Charles Becker, Todd Elder, Thomas Luster, Gary Solon and participants of the Fragile Families Worshop Series and the First National Research Conference on Child and Family Programs and Policy for their helpful comments and suggestions regarding this paper. Special thanks to Kristen Harknett for her data assistance. The author takes sole responsibility of the content and views expressed in this paper and all errors are her own.