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Is Marriage Always Good for Children? Evidence from Families Affected by Incarceration

Author

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  • Keith Finlay
  • David Neumark
Abstract
One-third of children in the United States are born to unmarried parents. A substantial number of black and Hispanic children live with a never-married mother. Children of never-married mothers are more likely to drop out of high school, repeat grades, and have behavioral problems than are children raised in more traditional family structures. But these relationships may be driven by other factors that affect marital status at birth, post-conception marriage decisions, and later child outcomes, rather than causal effects of family structure. Given that changes in the availability of men in the marriage market should affect marriage decisions, we use incarceration rates for men as an instrumental variable for family structure in estimating the effect of never-married motherhood on the likelihood that children drop out of high school, focusing on blacks and Hispanics. Instrumental variables estimates suggest that unobserved factors rather than a causal effect drive the negative relationship between never-married motherhood and child outcomes for blacks and Hispanics, at least for the children of women whose marriage decisions are most affected by variation in incarceration rates for men. For Hispanics, in particular, we find evidence that these children may actually be better off living with a never-married mother.

Suggested Citation

  • Keith Finlay & David Neumark, 2008. "Is Marriage Always Good for Children? Evidence from Families Affected by Incarceration," NBER Working Papers 13928, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13928
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    Cited by:

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    2. Huang, Chien-Chung & Postmus, Judy L. & Vikse, Juliann H. & Wang, Lih-Rong, 2013. "Economic abuse, physical violence, and union formation," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 780-786.
    3. Moschion, Julie & van Ours, Jan C., 2019. "Do childhood experiences of parental separation lead to homelessness?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 211-236.
    4. Wanchuan Lin & Kathryn McEvilly & Juan Pantano, 2016. "Obesity and sex ratios in the U.S," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 269-292, June.
    5. Kasey Buckles & Joseph Price, 2013. "Selection and the Marriage Premium for Infant Health," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(4), pages 1315-1339, August.
    6. Wolfgang Frimmel & Martin Halla & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, 2014. "Can Pro-Marriage Policies Work? An Analysis of Marginal Marriages," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(4), pages 1357-1379, August.
    7. Cameron, Lisa & Meng, Xin & Zhang, Dandan, 2022. "Does being “left–behind” in childhood lead to criminality in adulthood? Evidence from data on rural-urban migrants and prison inmates in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 675-693.
    8. repec:pri:crcwel:wp13-05-ff is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Marco Francesconi & Stephen Jenkins & Thomas Siedler, 2010. "Childhood family structure and schooling outcomes: evidence for Germany," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(3), pages 1073-1103, June.
    10. Briggs Depew & Joseph Price, 2018. "Marriage and the economic status of women with children," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 1049-1061, December.
    11. V. Hotz & Juan Pantano, 2015. "Strategic parenting, birth order, and school performance," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(4), pages 911-936, October.
    12. Terry-Ann Craigie, 2008. "Effects of Paternal Presence and Family Stability on Child Cognitive Performance," Working Papers 1015, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    13. Ayllón, Sara & Ferreira-Batista, Natalia N., 2015. "‘Mommy, I miss daddy’. The effect of family structure on children's health in Brazil," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 75-89.
    14. Cygan-Rehm, Kamila & Kuehnle, Daniel & Riphahn, Regina T., 2018. "Paid parental leave and families’ living arrangements," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 182-197.
    15. repec:pri:crcwel:wp08-03-ff is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Harris, Matthew C. & Cronin, Christopher J., 2017. "The effects of prospective mate quality on investments in healthy body weight among single women," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 164-183.
    17. Elliott Isaac, 2020. "Marriage, Divorce, and Social Safety Net Policy," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 86(4), pages 1576-1612, April.
    18. Letizia Mencarini & Silvia Pasqua & Agnese Romiti, 2014. "Children’s time use and family structure in Italy," CHILD Working Papers Series 27, Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics (CHILD) - CCA.
    19. Robynn Cox & Sally Wallace, 2016. "Identifying the Link Between Food Security and Incarceration," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 82(4), pages 1062-1077, April.
    20. Mariano Tommasi & María Edo & Agustina Thailinger, 2021. "Familia y desarrollo humano en el siglo XXI. Revisión de la literatura internacional y algunos apuntes para el caso argentino," Working Papers 152, Universidad de San Andres, Departamento de Economia, revised May 2021.
    21. Carolina Arteaga, 2021. "Parental Incarceration and Children's Educational Attainment," Working Papers tecipa-703, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    22. Kamila Cygan-Rehm & Daniel Kühnle & Regina T. Riphahn, 2017. "Love your Leave, Don't Leave your Love! Paid Parental Leave and Children's Living Arrangements," CESifo Working Paper Series 6319, CESifo.
    23. Gloria Moroni, 2018. "Explaining Divorce Gaps in Cognitive and Noncognitive Skills of Children," Discussion Papers 18/16, Department of Economics, University of York.
    24. Robynn Cox & Sally Wallace, 2013. "The Impact of Incarceration on Food Insecurity among Households with Children," Working Papers 1448, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    25. Dimitrios Nikolaou, 2017. "Maternal Life Satisfaction, Marital Status, and Child Skill Formation," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 43(4), pages 621-648, September.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy

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