A new study examining family structures reveals that children from broken families accumulate approximately $61,600 less wealth on average over the course of their lifetimes than those who were raised in an intact family.
The study, “Childhood Family Structure and the Accumulation of Wealth Across the Life Course,” aimed to explain how family structure is related to wealth accumulation, and was published earlier this month in the Journal of Marriage and Family.
Researchers found a median wealth penalty of at least $61,600 at ages 47 to 55 is for individuals who did not live continuously with both biological parents from birth to age 18, depending on their alternative family structure.
Study authors Fabrizio Bernardi of European University Institute in Italy, Diederik Boertien of Centre d’Estudis Demogràfics, and Koen Geven of the World Bank noted that it is well documented that the structure of ones family during childhood is connected to several outcomes later in life, such as educational attainment, income, partnering behavior, and psychological well-being. But the subject of wealth is underresearched in this context, they explained.
Using data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, the researchers analyzed a representative set of adolescents since they were aged 14 to 22 years, examining relevant family dynamics, intergenerational wealth transfers, and several other factors tied to wealth building over time. By the year 2012, the last wave included, the participants were between 47 and 56 years old.
The nine types of family structures examined were those where children…
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