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Author: Boertien, Diederik
Resulting in 5 citations.
1. Bernardi, Fabrizio
Boertien, Diederik
Do Parental Separation and Single Motherhood Strengthen Intergenerational Inequality in Educational Attainment? A Decomposition Analysis for Germany, Italy, the UK and the US
Family and Societies Working Paper Series 45, European Union's Seventh Framework Programme, 2015.
Also: http://www.familiesandsocieties.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/WP45BernardiBoertien2015.pdf
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: European Union
Keyword(s): British Cohort Study (BCS); Cross-national Analysis; Educational Attainment; Family Structure; Germany, German; Italy/Italian Social Surveys; Marital Disruption; Motherhood; Parents, Single; Socioeconomic Status (SES)

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

We test the hypothesis that parental separation and single motherhood amplify children's inequality in educational attainment by social background. This hypothesis lies on two premises a) parental separation and single motherhood are more common among low SocioEconomic Status (SES) families and b) they are also associated to worse educational outcomes for children. We argue that there is a third premise that is largely overlooked in the literature, namely that c) there is no heterogeneity by social background in the consequences of growing up in a non-intact family. If the third premise does not hold and the consequences are more negative for children of high SES parents, the overall aggregate contribution of parental separation and single motherhood is difficult to predict a priori. We test the hypothesis in four countries that differ in the prevalence and consequences of parental separation and single motherhood: Germany, Italy, the UK, and the US. We use an Oaxaca decomposition approach to calculate a 'counterfactual' estimate of inequality of educational attainment by social background in the absence of non-intact families. Overall, we find very little influence of family structure on the level of inequality of educational attainment by social background in the four countries considered.
Bibliography Citation
Bernardi, Fabrizio and Diederik Boertien. "Do Parental Separation and Single Motherhood Strengthen Intergenerational Inequality in Educational Attainment? A Decomposition Analysis for Germany, Italy, the UK and the US." Family and Societies Working Paper Series 45, European Union's Seventh Framework Programme, 2015.
2. Bernardi, Fabrizio
Boertien, Diederik
Non-intact Families and Diverging Educational Destinies: A Decomposition Analysis for Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States
Social Science Research 63 (March 2017): 181-191.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X15300752
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): British Cohort Study (BCS); Cross-national Analysis; Educational Attainment; Family Characteristics; Family Structure; Germany, German; Italy/Italian Social Surveys

We examine whether the presence of non-intact families in society is related to increased inequality in educational attainment according to social background, as suggested by the 'diverging destinies' thesis. We analyze four countries, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, that differ in the prevalence of non-intact families and in the strength of the negative association between growing up in a non-intact family and children's educational attainment. We use a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition approach to calculate a 'counterfactual' estimate of differences in educational attainment between socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged children in the hypothetical absence of non-intact families. Contrary to the diverging destinies thesis, we find little differences between actual and 'counterfactual' levels of inequality in educational attainment in all four countries. Whereas growing-up in a non-intact family affects the individual chances of educational attainment, the overall contribution of non-intact families to aggregate levels of social background inequality is minimal.
Bibliography Citation
Bernardi, Fabrizio and Diederik Boertien. "Non-intact Families and Diverging Educational Destinies: A Decomposition Analysis for Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States." Social Science Research 63 (March 2017): 181-191.
3. Bernardi, Fabrizio
Boertien, Diederik
Geven, Koen
Childhood Family Structure and the Accumulation of Wealth Across the Life Course
Journal of Marriage and Family 81,1 (February 2019): 230-247.
Also: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jomf.12523
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing, Inc. => Wiley Online
Keyword(s): Childhood; Family Structure; Life Course; Wealth

Objective: The aim of this article is to document how childhood family structure is related to the accumulation of wealth.

Background: Childhood family structure is a commonly studied determinant of child and adult outcomes, but little is known about its effects on wealth accumulation. Wealth is affected by a wide variety of factors, including human capital formation, family dynamics, and intergenerational transfers. Studying wealth therewith sheds light on how childhood family structure relates to the accumulation of advantages across life.

Method: Data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 7,066) are employed to document wealth differences at ages 47 to 55. Growth curve models are estimated to understand at what ages these differences emerge.

Results: A median wealth penalty of at least $61,600 at ages 47 to 55 is observed for individuals who did not live continuously with both parents from birth to age 18, depending on the alternative childhood family trajectory considered. A subsequent mediation analysis of the "wealth penalty" related to the permanent departure of a parent from the household during childhood points at human capital formation and own family dynamics as the primary channels through which wealth differences are produced; intergenerational transfers matter rather less.

Bibliography Citation
Bernardi, Fabrizio, Diederik Boertien and Koen Geven. "Childhood Family Structure and the Accumulation of Wealth Across the Life Course." Journal of Marriage and Family 81,1 (February 2019): 230-247.
4. Boertien, Diederik
Bernardi, Fabrizio
Diverging Destinies and Inequality of Opportunity Between Socioeconomic and Ethnic Groups in the United States
Presented: Denver CO, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, April 2018
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Delinquency/Gang Activity; Ethnic Differences; Family Structure; Socioeconomic Background; Substance Use

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Family structure figures prominently in debates on inequality of opportunity. Recent empirical research, however, has questioned how important family structure is in creating unequal opportunities between children from different socio-economic backgrounds. In this article, we aim to provide an extensive documentation of the contribution of family structure to socioeconomic and ethnic inequality of opportunity in the United States.

We use data from the NLSY 1997, and study ethnic and socioeconomic background differences in substance use and delinquency during adoloscence as well as health, income, educational attainment, unemployment, and life satisfaction during adulthood. We use Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions to estimate to what extent variation in family structures can explain socioeconomic and ethnic background differences in these outcomes. Preliminary results suggest that family structure explains very few socioeconomic background differences in outcomes, but could possibly play a modest role in explaining differences in income and unemployment between ethnic groups.

Bibliography Citation
Boertien, Diederik and Fabrizio Bernardi. "Diverging Destinies and Inequality of Opportunity Between Socioeconomic and Ethnic Groups in the United States." Presented: Denver CO, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, April 2018.
5. Boertien, Diederik
Bernardi, Fabrizio
Gendered Diverging Destinies: Changing Family Structures and the Reproduction of Educational Inequalities Among Sons and Daughters in the United States
Demography published online (17 December 2021): DOI:10.1215/00703370-9612710.
Also: https://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article/doi/10.1215/00703370-9612710/293328
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY97
Publisher: Duke University Press
Keyword(s): Educational Attainment; Family Structure; Gender Differences; Socioeconomic Background

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The prevalence of nontraditional family structures has increased over time, particularly among socioeconomically disadvantaged families. Because children's socioeconomic attainments are positively associated with growing up in a two-parent household, changing family structures are considered to have strengthened the reproduction of social inequalities across generations. However, several studies have shown that childhood family structure relates differently to educational outcomes for sons than for daughters. Therefore, we ask whether there are gender differences in the extent to which changing family structures have contributed to the college attainment gap between children from lower and higher socioeconomic backgrounds. We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and 1997 cohorts to estimate extended Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition models that take into account cross-cohort changes in the prevalence of family structures and heterogeneity in the effects of childhood family structure on college attainment. We find that the argument that changes in family structures contributed to diverging destinies in college attainment holds for daughters but not for sons. This result is due to the different changes over time in the effects of childhood family structure by gender and socioeconomic background.
Bibliography Citation
Boertien, Diederik and Fabrizio Bernardi. "Gendered Diverging Destinies: Changing Family Structures and the Reproduction of Educational Inequalities Among Sons and Daughters in the United States." Demography published online (17 December 2021): DOI:10.1215/00703370-9612710.