Consequences of Family Events: Three Papers on Family Change and Subsequent Outcomes.

My dissertation examines the consequences of three major family events for individuals’ outcomes. In Chapter 1, I frame the dissertation in the family demography and social stratification literatures. In Chapter 2, I study how the members of a couple adapt to the unemployment of one partner in the area of housework. I find that couples shift some housework to the unemployed partner, but the amount of housework completed within the household also increases during the unemployment period. In Chapter 3, I examine whether the timing of a second birth contributes to the motherhood penalty for women with more than one child. I find minimal evidence that a second birth affects women’s mid-life earnings and wages, regardless of timing. In Chapter 4, I investigate whether the separation of parents is negatively associated with children’s test score outcomes, and ask whether accounting for non-cognitive skills, such as behavior, mediates the association between separation and test scores. I find little evidence of a relationship between separation and test scores in two cohorts of children. The negative associations I find are not statistically significant after accounting for differences in demographic characteristics. In Chapter 5, I summarize the results of the previous chapters and draw implications. Additionally, I suggest topics for future research in the areas of housework, the motherhood penalty, and parental separation.PhDSociologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/93833/1/mmgough_1.pd