Savet Hong’s research while affiliated with University of California System and other places

We analyze the effects of household structure on education in Cambodia. Consistent evidence documents that residence with both biological parents benefits children’s education in Western countries. Elsewhere, the issue is gaining more attention with the growing number of “left-behind children” due to adult migration and, possibly, changes in family behavior. The extant record is both thinner and more contrasted, however. Controlling for the presence of grandparents and some household characteristics, we find children residing with both biological parents are more likely to be enrolled in school, in the appropriate grade for their age, and literate than those living with only one parent. The effect sizes appear comparable to those in most Western countries, but the effects shrink or even disappear when grandparents are present. The results for children not residing with either parent are mixed, possibly resulting from negative effects for some children and positive selection for some others.

Nonmarital births and divorce are rare in Cambodia. Because of dramatic levels of adult mortality reached during the late 1970s, however, growing up with a single parent is not rare. Using nationally representative, cross-sectional data, we estimate that about 12% of children under age 18 co-reside with only one of their biological parents. Using longitudinal data representative of the Mekong River Valley, we found this proportion to be declining. Nearly half of these children live in nuclear families (single parent with or without a stepparent), even though they live in multigenerational families more frequently than children who live with both their parents, especially when young and not living with their mother. Finally, we consider differences in socioeconomic conditions and child educational outcomes by number of co-residing parents.