Nori Tarui
Department of Economics
University of Hawai‘i

Xiangming Fang
Centers for Disease Control

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of three forms of child maltreatment (neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse) on the victim's subsequent high school completion outcome using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) study. Reduced-form estimates of the effects of child maltreatment indicate that only neglect is negatively associated with high school graduation. However, structural estimations, which take into account endogeneity of child maltreatment and simultaneity of the three maltreatment forms, find that physical abuse and neglect are both negatively associated with high school graduation. The finding sheds light on how parents' attitudes and behavior toward children influence their long-term human capital accumulation outcomes.