Studies have documented the negative association between divorce and women's economic wellbeing in several countries. Less is known about whether the effects of divorce on women's economic wellbeing, and their persistency, vary by family size. We present the first comprehensive assessment of how the short-term and medium-term economic consequences of divorce vary by family size. Using data from the US (PSID) and between-within random-effects models, we estimate changes in women's gross household income up to six years following divorce, stratified by the number of children in the household in the year of divorce. We add a comparative perspective using a harmonized set of socio-economic panel surveys from Australia (HILDA), Germany (GSOEP), and the UK (BHPS). Our findings demonstrate that the household incomes of women with three or more children decrease most drastically in the US, Germany, and the UK. In these countries, divorce widens the economic gap between child-rich households and those with no or few children. While childless women's incomes do not recover in the medium-term, incomes of mothers in Germany, the UK, and to a lesser extent the US partially recuperate. We demonstrate that differences in labor market attachment, and not remarriage, partially account for the family size differences we observe.

研究记录了几个国家离婚与妇女经济福祉之间的负相关关系。关于离婚对女性经济福祉的影响及其持久性是否因家庭规模而异，我们知之甚少。我们首次全面评估离婚的短期和中期经济后果如何因家庭规模而异。使用来自美国 (PSID) 和组间随机效应模型的数据，我们估计离婚后长达六年的女性家庭总收入的变化，按离婚当年家庭中的孩子数量进行分层。我们使用来自澳大利亚 (HILDA)、德国 (GSOEP) 和英国 (BHPS) 的一组统一的社会经济小组调查来添加比较视角。我们的研究结果表明，在美国、德国和英国，拥有三个或更多孩子的女性的家庭收入下降幅度最大。在这些国家，离婚扩大了有孩子的家庭与没有孩子或没有孩子的家庭之间的经济差距。虽然没有孩子的妇女的收入在中期内没有恢复，但德国、英国和美国的母亲收入部分恢复了。我们证明了劳动力市场依恋的差异，而不是再婚，部分解释了我们观察到的家庭规模差异。英国，以及在较小程度上美国部分恢复。我们证明了劳动力市场依恋的差异，而不是再婚，部分解释了我们观察到的家庭规模差异。英国，以及在较小程度上美国部分恢复。我们证明了劳动力市场依恋的差异，而不是再婚，部分解释了我们观察到的家庭规模差异。