Abstract
Over the past few years, family structures have been dramatically transformed, yet limited research from South Africa has assessed the effect on children’s developmental outcomes. Using data from the National Income Dynamics Study, we aim to contribute to the literature by examining the relationship between family structure disruption and high school completion in South Africa. Our sample consisted of 1649 young people who were aged 12, 13 and 14 in 2008 and their educational attainment was tracked through to 2017. The results from the logistic regression analysis demonstrate that family structure disruption is negatively associated with high school completion. After controlling for variation in household income change, the child’s educational factors and socio-demographic controls, young people who experienced a change from a co-resident family or were in stable non-resident parent family structures were up to 50% less likely to complete high school relative to those from undisrupted co-resident parent family structures. Given that family structure disruption is a widespread phenomenon in South Africa, research should consider it as a key determinant of educational attainment and policymakers should come up with holistic interventions to support families as well as allocate public resources in ways that can help reduce educational inequalities.
Highlights
South Africa has invested in access to education since the demise of apartheid, research suggests that the majority of young people still do not complete high school, with some scholars calling the high dropout rates a crisis (Weybright et al 2017)
We find that approximately 38% of the young people had experienced family structure disruption, 12.6% had experienced the exit of a parent from a two-parent family structure, 10.0% of those who did not reside with any parent at wave 1 had a parent move in, while 17.7% of children in lone-parent families experienced the exit of a parent
We have examined the effect of family structure changes on high school completion
Summary
South Africa has invested in access to education since the demise of apartheid, research suggests that the majority of young people still do not complete high school, with some scholars calling the high dropout rates a crisis (Weybright et al 2017). It is estimated that 50% of learners who enter Grade 1 at a particular time leave without completing high school (Spaull 2015). This status quo suggests that there are still significant barriers in educational attainment prompting the following questions: What are some of the factors that influence high school completion and why are some learners more successful than others? Especially so in South Africa, family structures have been dramatically transformed, a situation that has been partly attributed to the decline in marriage rates, the rise in non-marital fertility as well as divorce rates (Posel and Rudwick 2013; Chuong and Operario 2012).
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