This article looks at the effect paternal death can have on non-cognitive outcomes at age 15 and 22 depending on whether a child lost the father in middle childhood or adolescence. The article uses the potential outcome framework to estimate results using five rounds of longitudinal survey data for Ethiopia collected between 2002 and 2016. It finds that the loss of the father in middle childhood reduces an orphan’s self-esteem significantly by 0.15 standard deviations and subjective wellbeing by 16 per cent. These effects are not persistent. Instead, the loss of the father between ages 12-22, encompassing early, middle and late adolescence have significant positive effects on agency, self-efficacy, self-esteem and peer relationships as a young adult aged 22, improving them by 0.31, 0.28, 0.31 and 0.26 standard deviations respectively. This suggests that a father’s death during a child’s adolescent years may be associated with positive adaptive behavior.

本文着眼于父亲在15岁和22岁时对非认知结局的影响，具体取决于孩子是在童年中期还是青春期失去父亲。本文使用潜在结果框架通过2002年至2016年之间收集的五轮埃塞俄比亚纵向调查数据来估计结果。研究发现，失去童年时父亲的父亲通过0.15个标准差和主观幸福感会明显降低孤儿的自尊心。减少了16％这些影响不是持久的。取而代之的是，在12至22岁之间失去父亲，包括青春期的早期，中期和晚期，具有明显的积极意义。对22岁的年轻人的代理，自我效能感，自尊和同伴关系的影响，分别提高了0.31、0.28、0.31和0.26标准差。这表明父亲在孩子青春期的死亡可能与积极的适应行为有关。