Title the Role of Migration and Single Motherhood in Children's Education in Mexico

I investigate the link between children living in single-parent households and dropping out of school in Mexico. I focus on how migration structures households, bridging distinct literatures describing the role of single parenthood and migration in the educational trajectories of children. Using two waves of the Mexican Family Life Survey (MxFLS), which includes 3,855 school-age children, I longitudinally model how family structure is related to the subsequent risk of dropping out. I find that older children (1518) in certain types of single-mother households have an increased likelihood of dropping out of school relative to children in two-parent households. Specifically, children living without a father due to international migration or divorce/separation are at an increased risk while those with a domestic migrant father are statistically indistinguishable from their peers. Draft as of November 3, 2008 Please do not cite without the permission of the author