Research Paper Warwick Economic Research Papers 937

Are happiness and productivity lower among university students with newly-divorced parents? An experimental approach

Authors

Publication date

2010

Abstract

We live in a high-divorce age. Parents worry about the possibility of negative effects upon their children. This paper tests whether recent parental-divorce has deleterious consequences for grown children. Under controlled conditions, it measures students’ happiness with life, and their productivity in a standardized laboratory task. No negative effects from divorce can be detected. If anything, happiness and productivity are greater, particularly among males, if they have experienced parental divorce. Using longitudinal BHPS data -- to control for fixed effects -- we crosscheck this result on happiness. Again, the evidence suggests that young people’s mental well-being improves after parental divorce.

Subjects

Young People, Family Formation And Dissolution, Well Being, and Higher Education

Links

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/workingpapers/2010/

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