Does College Prevent Single Parenthood, and for Whom?

• In Event: 4419 - Higher Education: Consequences for Individuals and Communities

Abstract

Individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to form single parent families, and single parent family status is associated with a range of disadvantaged life outcomes. Although educational attainment is a channel through which disadvantage can be circumvented, previous research has found heterogeneous effects of college completion such that students who are less likely to complete college experience greater benefits of college. In this study, we examine the differential effects of college completion on becoming a single parent. Using data from National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 (NLSY79), we apply propensity score and machine-learning models to determine which subpopulations experience the largest effects. We find large negative effects of college completion on ever being a single parent and the proportion of time spent as a single parent for students with a low propensity to complete college. Students on the margin are thus those for whom college significantly circumvents family disadvantage.

Authors

• Amber Dyan Villalobos, University of California, Los Angeles

• Jennie E. Brand, University of California - Los Angeles