ABSTRACT
This chapter employs statistical models to analyze the effect of different types of parental absence on child developmental outcomes. First, the results reinforce the point that parental absence does matter for the well-being of children, including child morbidity, feeling of happiness, cognitive test performance and educational attainment. Second, the effects of parental absence on child well-being are not uniform for different types of parental absence. For example, children’s subjective well-being is adversely affected by both parents’ absence or only mother’s absence, but not by absence of only fathers. Third, the effects of parental absence differ in rural and urban areas. For vocabulary test performance, death or divorce of parents is a significant risk factor for rural children, but not for children in urban areas. Finally, our findings confirm the importance of positive parenting behavior in promoting child well-being. Caregiver encouragement and support of their children are associated with children’s higher level of happiness and superior cognitive test performances.
