Without a Father and Education: The Effect of Paternal Loss on the Schooling Outcomes of Children in Turkey

The death of a parent in childhood is one of the most tragic events a child can experience. In this paper, we use three rounds of the Turkey Demographic Health Survey (DHS) and investigate whether children's schooling is negatively affected due to paternal death. We find that paternal orphans fare worse in three out of the four outcomes considered. While father's death does not affect whether the child ever attends school, it reduces the likelihood of 5th and 8th grade completion. By age 15-18, paternal orphans complete 0.41 years less schooling as compared to non-orphans.