Kristin Kleinjans, Cal State Fullerton - The Long-Run Effects of Unilateral Divorce Laws on Offspring’s Smoking

Title: The Long-Run Effects of Unilateral Divorce Laws on Offspring’s Smoking

Abstract: This paper examines the causal effect of parental divorce on smoking behavior by exploiting state-cohort variation in the exposure to unilateral divorce laws by age 25. Using the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States, a nationally representative survey with rich information on the tobacco use history of fifty cohorts, we assess the long-run impact of divorce laws on affected children. We employ the semi-parametric difference-in-differences identification strategy developed by Callaway and Sant’Anna (2021) that accounts for the variation in treatment timing across the states and, therefore, produces unbiased estimates. The results provide strong empirical support for the adverse effect of divorce reform on affected women and men, indicating that the exposed cohorts have a higher probability of regularly using tobacco in adulthood. The underlying mechanisms differ by gender: Women’s greater propensity to smoke is related to not growing up with both parents as a result of the reform, while men’s greater propensity is related to growing up poor and changes in parental behavior that are not proxied by education, poverty, or parental affection and discipline.

Presenter: Kristin Kleinjans, Cal State Fullerton

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