CHANGES IN FAMILY-STRUCTURE, ATTAINED SCHOOLING, AND ADULT POVERTY STATUS

Objective. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the process through which an experience of a change in family structure affects a person' s future schooling and poverty status. Method. This research uses stan dard OLS and probit methods to analyze a sample of men and women from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youths, a relatively underutilized data source. Results. Consistent with other studies in the literature , family change is found to have negative effects on schooling and adu lt poverty, but the size of these effects decreases in the presence of mediating factors. Conclusions. One, the true effect of family change on schooling is likely to be smaller than those obtained by other stu dies. Two, the link between family change and poverty differs for men and women. While the higher chances of being poor among women are almo st wholly due to their lower schooling, the increased likelihood among men is independent of differences in schooling and other measures of life experiences.