The Effects of Several of the Most Common Family Structures on the Academic Achievement of Eighth Graders

Abstract

Over the last twenty-five years, researchers have become greatly interested in the effects of family structure on the academic achievement of children. The vast majority of these studies have focused on one or two family structures in their analysis. There remains, however, a considerable amount of debate about which of these family structures impacts the academic achievement of children the most. Using the NELS data set from the 1988-1992 period, the effects of seven family structure variables were examined to determine the extent to which several family structures impact the academic achievement of children. The results of this study indicate that the effects of family structure on the academic achievement of children vary considerably among the most common family structures. When SES, race, and gender are not controlled, living with a nevermarried single-parent or living with a remarried widow(er) had the greatest impact on the academic achievement of children. When these variables are controlled, living with a cohabiting couple or a remarried widow(er) had the largest impact on the academic achievement of children.

The Impact of Family Structure on the Health of Children: Effects of Divorce

“…2. Children of divorced parents are more likely to have lower grade point averages (GPAs) and be asked to repeat a year of school (Jeynes 2000). 3.…”

“…3. A study of eleven industrialized countries showed that children living in two-parent families had higher math and science scores (Jeynes 2000). 4.…”

Exposure to Family Violence and Reading Level of Early Adolescents

“…As noted by Slade and Wissow (2007), the child's broader context is also important in understanding school outcomes. Socioeconomic indicators have frequently been found to impact school outcomes (Sirin, 2005), as well as family structure (Jeynes, 2000) and child ethnicity or race (Kao & Thompson, 2003). However it is likely that the effects of race are at least partially explained by the broader social context of education (Weinstein, Gregory, & Strambler, 2004) The purpose of this study was to examine predictors of reading level in a cohort of high-risk children.…”

Does Parental Involvement Eliminate the Effects of Parental Divorce on the Academic Achievement of Adolescents?

“…Recent research suggests that all three schools of thought are helpful to some degree in explaining the effects of parental family structure (Jeynes, 2000;McLanahan & Sandefur, 1994). Nevertheless, if one focuses on issues of causality, it appears that the access to parents school of thought probably explains the largest portion of the academic disadvantage that children of divorce face (Allison & Furstenberg, 1989;Jeynes, 1998b).…”