When parents are going through the divorce process, one of the big priorities they often have is to protect their children’s future.
Among the concerns parents may have regarding their children’s educational future is whether their kids will one day get a college degree or higher. A recent study suggests that children of divorce may have a lower likelihood of getting such a degree.
The study looked at data regarding a group of individuals born in the early 1980s. It focused on data regarding these individuals when they were ages 26-32.
Using this data, the study compared the likelihood of having a college degree or higher between individuals whose parents were still married and individuals whose parents had divorced.
The study found that, among individuals whose parents were still married, 50 percent had at least a bachelor’s degree and 20 percent had or were pursuing a higher degree. Meanwhile, among individuals with divorced parents, the percentages for these two categories were 27 percent and 12 percent respectively.
The study did not indicate what was behind these differences. One wonders what future research will end up showing in this regard.
So, when getting divorced, parents may want to give careful thought to their children’s educational future. Specifically, they may want to take steps to protect this future and prevent the divorce from negatively affecting it, such as:
- Factoring future college costs into property division matters: A researcher with the study postulated that the income effects of a divorce might be a factor in the differences found in the study. So, when getting divorced, parents may want to make sure to specifically address their goals for helping their kids pay for college in property division negotiations and settlements.
- Protecting their child’s emotional heath: Another thing the researcher floated as a potential contributor to the trends found in the study is the emotional impact of a divorce on a child. There are steps parents can take towards helping their child stay emotionally healthy during a divorce. This includes giving them the support they need and working to keep divorce battles from spilling over into their lives.
- Keeping their child’s current education on track: There are various divorce issues that can have considerable impacts on a child’s current educational path, including child custody. So, parents may want to incorporate their overall educational goals for their children into their strategy for addressing these issues.