Growing up in an intact vs. non-intact family and the transition from school to permanent work: A gender approach for Spain in 2000

Abstract

This paper explores the influence of marital disruption and family environment on three major events that mark the transition from adolescence to young adulthood for children between the ages of 16 and 25, these being leaving school, entering the labor market and obtaining permanent employment. This is a gender approach, given that the two sexes experience the process in different ways.The duration models that estimate the timing of events reveal that the factors which favor education (i.e., intact family, parents' education, mother more educated than father, mother never worked for pay) produce a higher performance work path, and vice-versa (i.e., family disruption, number of siblings, caring for grandparents). The comparative gender analysis shows that daughters receive more education, are less likely to obtain a permanent job and, at the same time, they are more sensitive to the family environment and produce a positive externality on both brothers and sisters.