Hyunjoon Park Sociology, University of Pennsylvania Jaesung Choi Economics, University of Pennsylvania

1. Changing Family Structure and Its Implications for Social Inequality in a "Strong" Family Country: Single Parents and Their Children in South Korea Hyunjoon Park Sociology, University of Pennsylvania Jaesung Choi Economics, University of Pennsylvania

2. Family Contexts in Korea • Changing family structure • Increasing international marriage (between a Korean man and a foreign woman) • Declining fertility • Rising divorce • Weak welfare state; limited public support to families • Implications of changing family structure for social inequality given the weak welfare state

3. Demography of Divorce • Trends in divorce • Socioeconomic and demographic determinants of divorce • Living arrangements of divorced parents and their children • Consequences of growing up with a divorced parent for children’s education and well-being • Grandparents and children of divorced parents

4. Rising Divorce

5. Park & Raymo (2010)

6. Comparative Level of Divorce Park & Raymo (2010): cf. Andersson & Philipov (2001)

7. Educational Differentials in the Risk of Divorce Park & Raymo (2010)

8. Weak Welfare State: Social Spending on Family in Cash, Services and Tax Measures, in percentage of GDP, in 2001

9. Implications of Rising Divorce for Social Inequality • Growing divorce, especially among the low educated • Weak welfare state that provides only very limited public support to (single-parent) families • Limited economic opportunity for Korean women • Disparities in economic and social resources available for children from two-parent and single-parent families • Growing potential of family structure as a mechanism of intergenerational transmission of advantage

10. But,,, We Have “Strong” Family Ties!! • Family as an essential safety net for vulnerable members • Reher (1988): priority of families over public institutions to help vulnerable family members in Southern European countries • “Strong” family ties in Asia • strong families in Southern European societies as lying between weak families in northern Europe and North America and much stronger families in Asia (Reher 1998) • A study of grandparent co-residence and its impact on parent-child interaction in Japan (Raymo, Park, and Iwasawa 2010) • But, is family still strong in contemporary Asia?

11. Our Research Questions • Consequences of growing up with a single parent for children’s education in Korea • Distinguishing single-mother and single-father families • Data do not allow distinguishing widowhood and divorce • To what extent do children of single parents live with their grandparents? • If coresidence can be considered as an indicator of family ties • Does co-residence with grandparents moderate negative relationship between single parenthood and children’s education?

12. Data and Variables • Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009 • From the international dataset of more than 60 countries, data for Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the US are extracted • Target population: 15-year-old students • Sample size: about 5,000 for Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and US • Educational outcomes: standardized reading, math, and science test scores • Five plausible values for each test • Approximately mean = 500 points, standard deviation = 100 points among all OECD countries

13. Key Variables • Current living arrangements of children: 6 groups • Two parents living with grandparents; without grandparents • Single mothers living with grandparents; without grandparents • Single fathers living with grandparents; without grandparents • Socioeconomic background of students • Parental education • Number of books at home • Cultural possessions • Home educational resources

14. Methods • Regression analysis of reading (math and science, separately) scores predicted by • Model 1 (gross effect): living arrangements only • Model 2 (net effect): Model 1 + Family SES

15. Living Arrangements of 15-Year-Old Students

16. % Students living with grandparents

17. Gross Differences from Two Parents_NO_GP in Reading Scores S-Mother NO_GP S-Mother GP S-Father NO_GP S-Father GP Two-Parents GP S-Mother NO_GP S-Mother GP S-Father NO_GP S-Father GP Two-Parents GP USA KOREA

18. Differences from Two Parents_NO_GP in Reading Scores S-Mother NO_GP S-Mother GP S-Father NO_GP S-Father GP Two-Parents GP S-Mother NO_GP S-Mother GP S-Father NO_GP S-Father GP Two-Parents GP KOREA USA

19. Gross Differences from Two Parents_NO_GP in Reading Scores Two-Parents GP S-Mother NO_GP S-Mother GP S-Father NO_GP S-Father GP S-Mother NO_GP S-Mother GP S-Father NO_GP S-Father GP Two-Parents GP Taiwan Japan

20. Differences from Two Parents_NO_GP in Reading Scores Two-Parents GP S-Mother NO_GP S-Mother GP S-Father NO_GP S-Father GP S-Mother NO_GP S-Mother GP S-Father NO_GP S-Father GP Two-Parents GP Taiwan Japan

21. Major Findings • Relatively smaller gaps in test scores by family structure in Korea (Taiwan and Japan as well) than in the US, once family SES is taken into account • However, gross disadvantages associated with single fatherhood are substantial in Korea (Taiwan and Japan) • Not strong evidence of differences between single-parent families with grandparents and without grandparents in Korea (and US) • Some evidence of benefits of living with grandparents particularly among single-father families in Taiwan and Japan

22. Issues • The considerably low level of coresidence with their parents among Korean single mothers (whose child is 15-year old) • What do family ties mean to single mothers? • Do they receive other kinds of support from their parents even if not living together? • Do single mothers prefer less direct relationships with their parents? • How do we analyze the effect of grandparents on children’s education? • Selection • Measurement of coresidence (duration) • Longitudinal information on living arrangements and children’s educational outcomes