Effects of Parental Divorce on Children’s Psychosocial Skills

Jennie E. Brand, University of California, Los Angeles
Yu Xie, University of Michigan
Ravaris L. Moore, University of California, Los Angeles

A large literature suggests parental divorce leads to worse educational and socioeconomic outcomes among children. A recent study by Kim (2011) highlights the role of parental divorce in the development of children’s cognitive and noncognitive skills. However, we contend that the development literature points to important asymmetry between these skills. While cognitive skills stabilize relatively early in childhood, psychosocial skills evolve and change through young childhood, thus allowing family environments to play a sizeable role in shaping psychosocial skills. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) and the National Longitudinal Survey’s Child-Mother file (NLSCM), we assess the effects of parental divorce on children’s psychosocial skills. We also evaluate the degree to which psychosocial skills mediate the relationship between parental divorce and children’s educational outcomes.