Does Widowhood or Remarriage have the Greater Impact on the Academic Achievement of Children?

Abstract

Using the NELS data set from the 1988–1992 period, the results of this study indicate that how one views the relative effects of widowhood and remarriage may depend largely on two factors: 1) at what age the children are studied and 2) whether one controls for SES. First, parental widowhood and remarriage exerted a greater downward impact on academic achievement for the 8th grade cohort than the 12th grade cohort. Second, whether SES variables were used in the analysis had a small impact. Parental widowhood exerted greater downward pressure on academic achievement when SES variables were not included in the analysis than when they were included. Overall, parental remarriage had a greater negative impact on the academic achievement of children than parental widowhood did. These results are somewhat different from the results found in a similar study which examined the relative effects of divorce and remarriage following divorce (Jeynes, 1998a). The possible reasons for both of these differing effects are discussed.