Losing a parent due to premature death is generally associated with negative child outcomes. However, the study of possible (modifying) effects of the child's age and family background has been neglected in previous research. In this paper, we analyse the relationship between the child's age at parental death and the child's university education, and we study whether the possible association is modified by the child's family background. We apply ordinary least square regression and linear sibling fixed effect models to high-quality Finnish Census Panel data, consisting of 88,727 children born between 1982 and 1990. According to our results, the negative influence of parental death varies by the child's age; the consequences of parental death for young children were the most adverse. Interestingly, the influence of parental death seemed not to vary by family background.

Early parental death has been linked to problems in health and educational path. We added to the literature by examining disability pension and various educational outcomes after external (accident, violence, suicide) or natural parental death during childhood or adolescence, taking into account possible heterogeneous associations by parental resources. Using Finnish register data and linear random-effects models, we analysed outcomes of 90,620 and 88,859 children (paternal and maternal death samples, respectively) born between 1982 and 1990. Results indicated lower educational performance and attainment, and a higher probability of disability pension in the bereaved offspring, especially after external parental death. Half of these connections were explained after adjusting for childhood family characteristics. Having a highly educated surviving parent might protect from negative educational and health outcomes. The findings were partly similar for father's and mother's deaths. We demonstrated that the negative associations between parental death and child wellbeing differ by cause of death and parental resources. Cause of death and overall family circumstances should both be considered when analysing child outcomes after parental loss.

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Numerous studies have shown that parental divorce is associated with an increase in adult children's divorce risk. We extend this literature by assessing how parental divorce on both sides of a couple is related to their partnership dynamics, specifically, whether there is parental divorce homogamy and whether a history of parental divorce for both partners is associated with increased dissolution risks for cohabiting and married unions. We use Finnish Census Panel data on 28,021 cohabiting and marital partnerships to conduct event-history models that follow individuals between ages 18 and 45. Findings show substantial parental divorce homogamy. Children with experience of parental divorce have 13% greater odds of cohabiting with and 17% greater odds of marrying a fellow child of divorcees, compared with those whose parents have not divorced. Moreover, contrary to evidence from the United States and Norway, our findings for Finland support an additive—rather than multiplicative—association between parental divorce homogamy and union dissolution. Parental divorce homogamy increases offspring's union dissolution risk by 20% for cohabitation and 70% for marriage, compared with couples for whom neither partner's parents are divorced. In Finland, the sizes of these associations are notably weaker than in the United States and Norway, likely because cohabitation and separation are more widespread and socially accepted in Finland, and an expansive welfare state buffers the socioeconomic consequences of divorce.

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