Secular changes in the association of parental divorce and children's educational attainment - Evidence from three British birth cohorts

This article examines the secular trends in the overall association of pare ntal divorce (or separation) and children's educational attainment at schoo l-leaving age during the period spanning a quarter of a century since the s econd world war in Britain, The study presents a reanalysis of data from th e three British birth cohorts which studied children bum in 1946, 1958 and 1970, Equivalent educational attainment at the different time points is def ined relative to the population distribution at the time, using the median level. The relative risks (with 95 per cent confidence intervals) of lower than median educational attainment associated with parental divorce (or sep aration) are 1.3 (1.2 to 1.5), 1.4(1.3 to 1.5) and 1.4 (1.3 to 1.5)for the three cohorts respectively, These results refute the commonly held opinion that the effects of divorce on children have attenuated with the Increasing prevalence of divorce.