Does Divorce or Remarriage Have the Greater Negative Impact on the Academic Achievement of Children?

Abstract

Over the past twenty-five years considerably more research has been done on the effects of divorce on academic achievement than on the effects of remarriage following divorce on academic achievement. Much of this fact results from the assumption of many social scientists that remarriage must, on average, benefit children of divorce. Recent studies examining the effects of remarriage on various dimensions of childhood ability and psychology seriously question this assumption (Kurdek et al., 1994; Hetherington, 1992; Bay-dar, 1988; Amato and Ochitree, 1987; Hetherington, Hagan, and Anderson, 1989). In fact, some researchers have even argued that the effects of remarriage following divorce may rival or even exceed the effects of divorce (Baydar, 1988; Amato and Ochitree, 1987; Hey-man, 1992). Using the NELS data set from the 1988-1992 period, the results of this study indicate that how one views the relative effects of divorce and remarriage may depend largely on whether one controls for socioeconomic Status (SES).