Childhood Family Structure and Tertiary Education Attainment across Generations in Spain:: the Role of Economic Deprivation, Socioeconomic Status and Parental Contact

This study investigates how livingin single-parent families during childhood influences tertiary education attainment, exploring the mechanisms involved, their heterogeneity by parental socioeconomic status and their variation over time. Linear probability models based on data from the SpanishSurveyonLiving Conditions (ECV) 2019 and 2023show that children who lived in single-parent families at age 14—regardless of whethertheyhave contact with the absent parent—are less likely to attain tertiary education. A significant part of this disadvantage is due to the lower availability of economic resources in single-parent families, especially for those where children grew up without contact with the absent parent. Moreover, the disadvantages are not homogeneous across different socioeconomic groups: the penalty associated with having lived in asingle-parent familyis higher for children whoseparents havehigh socioeconomic status. However, the gradient of this penalty has changed between generations: in Generation X, it mainly affected children whoseparentshavemoderate socioeconomic status; in contrast, in Millennials, it is concentrated among children whoseparents havehigh socioeconomic status, especially insingle-parentfamilies with parental contact