Three waves of panel data from 7,897 adolescents in the National Education Longitudinal Studies have been used to investigate whether a stabilized postdivorce family environment benefits adolescents’ academic performance trajectories. The analyses indicate that compared with peers who grow up in stable postdivorce families, children of divorce who experience additional family transitions during late adolescence make less progress in their math and social studies performance over time. Furthermore, family resource differences before and during late adolescence either partially or completely account for the less positive performance trajectories in two types of divorced families. Finally, daughters in unstable postdivorce families appear to make less academic progress over time than sons. The study illustrates the importance of incorporating both postdivorce family transitions and repeatedly measured child outcomes in the investigation of divorce effects.
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