Does Family Structure Affect Children's Educational Outcomes? NBER Working Paper Series.

This paper examines correlations between children's educational outcomes and family structure. Although popular discussions focus on distinctions between two-parent and single-parent families, earlier research shows that outcomes for stepchildren are similar to outcomes for children in single-parent families, and earlier researchers suggested that the crucial distinction is between children who were reared by both biological parents and children who were not. This paper suggests that such a finding is misleading, asserting that educational outcomes for both types of children in blended families--stepchildren and their half-siblings who are the joint biological children of both parents--are similar to each other and substantially worse than outcomes for children reared in traditional nuclear families. It concludes that the crucial distinction is between children reared in traditional nuclear families and children reared in other family structures. The paper also examines the effect of family structure on children's outcomes, recommending a reformulation of the family structure question by specifying some explicit counterfactual and expressing a preference for a policy-relevant counterfactual. The paper suggests considering the effect of reducing the marriage penalty in the earned income tax credit that makes the credit essentially unavailable to two-earner couples. (Contains 44 references.) (SM)