Author (Your Name)

Rachel G. CoanFollow

Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Honors Thesis (Open Access)

Department

Colby College. Economics Dept.

Advisor(s)

Kathrin Ellieroth

Second Advisor

Samara Gunter

Abstract

In my paper I examine how different living arrangements impact how well a child performs in school. The living arrangements are: living with both biological parents, living with biological mother, and living with biological father. Using a linear regression method, I regress living arrangements against GPA and find that children who do not live with both of their biological parents are expected to perform about 0.3 GPA points worse in school than children who do. With added control variables the difference in predicted GPAs decreases. Additionally, I find that living arrangements aren’t predicted to impact children differently depending on their gender. Using getting suspended and disobedience as dependent variables supports the results from the primary regression. I also find that children who live with their mothers that have always been single from the child’s father are predicted to have lower GPAs than with mothers who haven’t always been single.

Keywords

living arrangements, academic performance, grades, divorce, children

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