Page 7 - IJPS-3-2

International Journal of Population Studies

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Household structure and child
education in Cambodia

Patrick Heuveline* and Savet Hong

California Center for Population Research (CCPR), University of California, Los
Angeles (UCLA)

Abstract: We analyze the effects of household structure on education in Cambodia.
Consistent evidence documents that residence with both biological parents benefits
children’s education in Western countries. Elsewhere, the issue is gaining more
attention with the growing number of “left-behind children” due to adult migration
and, possibly, changes in family behavior. The extant record is both thinner and more
contrasted, however. Controlling for the presence of grandparents and some household
characteristics, we find children residing with both biological parents are more likely
to be enrolled in school, in the appropriate grade for their age, and literate than those
living with only one parent. The effect sizes appear comparable to those in most
ARTICLE INFO Western countries, but the effects shrink or even disappear when grandparents are
Received: March 9, 2017
Accepted: April 20, 2017 present. The results for children not residing with either parent are mixed, possibly
Published Online: April 26, resulting from negative effects for some children and positive selection for some others.
2017
*CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Keywords: education;family demography; global/international; household structure;
Patrick Heuveline
California Center for Population single parents
Research (CCPR)
4284 Public Affairs Bldg
University of California, Los 1. Introduction
Angeles (UCLA)
Los Angeles, LA 90095 In this paper, we analyze the effects of household structure and children’s living
heuveline@soc.ucla.edu
arrangements on their educational outcomes in Cambodia. Such effects have been
CITATION extensively and fairly consistently documented in high-income Nations. With the
Heuveline P and Hong S notable exception of a body of research on the effects of orphanhood and child
(2017).
Household Structure and fosterage in sub-Saharan Africa (e.g., Bledsoe, 1990; Isiugo-Abanihe, 1985; Madhavan,
Child Education in Cambodia. 2004; Nyamukapa and Gregson, 2005), there had been comparatively little research
International Journal of on the topic in medium- and low-income Nations, until recently at least. A growing
Population Studies, 3(2): 1-15.
doi: 10.18063/ijps.v3i2.309. interest in the effects of children’s living arrangements worldwide follows what may
appear to be the emergence of a “Second Demographic Transition” in non-Western
Copyright: © 2017 Heuveline Nations. Whether or not their recent demographic trends fit the pattern first identified
P and Hong S. This is an Open in Europe (van de Kaa, 1997), it suffices to say that non-marital partnership formation
Access article distributed under and parental divorce have become more common in some South American and East
the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution- Asian countries (Esteve, Lesthaeghe and López-Gay, 2012; Raymo, Hyunjoon, Yu
NonCommercial 4.0 et al., 2015). Substantial numbers of children residing with only one or none of their
International License biological parents have thus emerged in these regions. Moreover, work opportunities
(http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc/4.0/), permitting in urban and peri-urban areas, or even abroad, attract an increasing number of short-
all noncommercial use, term and “circular” migrants. Among them, some parents temporarily, though durably
distribution, and reproduction
in any medium, provided the sometimes, must leave their children behind (Collinson, Tollman, Kahn et al., 2006;
original work is properly cited. Parreñas, 2015). Parents may then leave their children with family members, grand-

International Journal of Population Studies | 2017, Volume 3, Issue 2 1