PopDigests Policy Briefs Discussion Papers Policy Insights Books and Reports Yearbook Related Content Pop Digest - More people prefer not to have children Event - Determinants and measures of early development in the Growing up in Hungary study Pop Digest - Are two languages better than one? News - ERC Announced Starting Grant 2022 Principal Investigators Event - The nest redefined: Global family changes Pop Digest - Are ideals and norms related to fatherhood equal in Europe? Policy Brief Boosting Children’s Lifetime Chances in Times of Diverse Family Forms Key Messages: The impact of family dissolution on children varies considerably and lasting effects persist for only a minority. To prevent negative consequences of family dissolution on children’s development, policies should prevent economic downward mobility and provide support to children and parents to adapt to new family dynamics and forms. Life chances of children depend more strongly on the socio-economic background of their parents than on the family form they are living in. Document Download Population & Policy Compact 07/2014 (866.05 KB) Image Key Messages: The impact of family dissolution on children varies considerably and lasting effects persist for only a minority. To prevent negative consequences of family dissolution on children’s development, policies should prevent economic downward mobility and provide support to children and parents to adapt to new family dynamics and forms. Life chances of children depend more strongly on the socio-economic background of their parents than on the family form they are living in. Mitigating the effect of parental socio-economic background on children is one of the major challenges for family policies. References: Bastaits, K. and D. Mortelmans (2013): Does the Parenting of Divorced Mothers and Fathers Affect Children’s Well-Being in the Same Way? Child Indicators Research 7: 351–367. Bernardi, F. and J. Radl (2014): The Long-Term Consequences of Parental Divorce for Children’s Educational Attainment. Demographic Research 30(61): 1653-1680. Carneiro, P. and J. Heckman (2003): Human Capital Policy. in: Heckman, J., Krueger, A. B. and B. M. Friedman (eds): Inequality in America: What Role for Human Capital Policies? Cambridge: MIT Press. Ermisch, J., Jäntti, M., Smeeding, T. and J. A. Wilson (2012): What Have We Learned? in: Ermisch, J., Jäntti, M. and T. Smeeding (eds): From Parents to Children: The intergenerational Transmission of Advantage. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 463-481. Garriga, A. and J. Härkönen (2009): The Effects of Marital instability on Children’s Well-being and Intergenerational Relations. State of the Art Report. EQUALSOC Project. Gauthier, A., Smeeding, T. and F. Furstenberg (2004): Are Parents Investing Less Time in Children? Trends in Selected Industrialized Countries. Population and Development Review 30(4): 647-671. Hampden-Thompson, G. (2013): Family Policy, Family Structure, and Children’s Educational Achievement. Social Science Research 42: 804-817. Härkönen, J. (2014): Divorce: Trends, Patterns, Causes, Consequences. in: Treas, J. K., Scott, J. and M. Richards (eds): The Wiley- Blackwell Companion to the Sociology of Families. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 303-322. Van Gaalen, R. and F. van Poppel (2009): Long-Term Chances in the Living Arrangements of Children in the Netherlands. Journal of Family issues 30(5): 653-669. Additional Information Authors of Original Article Bernardi Gauthier Härkönen Ermisch Source Bernardi, L., Gauthier, A. H., Härkönen, J. & Ermisch, J. (2014). Boosting Children’s Lifetime Chances in Times of Diverse Family Forms. Population & Policy Compact 7, Berlin: Max Planck Society/Population Europe.