Why Do Educated Mothers Matter? A Model of Parental Help

Abstract

This paper investigates the role performed by mothers in affecting their childrens' performance at school. The article develops firstly a theoretical model in which household (parent -child pair) is treated as an individual, whose utility depends both on the performance at school of the student and on consumption. The model focuses on the different possibilities through which help of mothers may affect pupil's performance both in terms of time devoted to supervision and spillover effects. Empirical evidence then, using PISA 2006 and focusing on Italian case, shows that education of mothers is an issue when interacted with her occupational status. Highly educated mothers have a positive impact on students' score only when they are highly qualifed in the job market.JEL Codes: J12, J24, I21

Home Environment and Parental Involvement in Homework During Adolescence in Catalonia (Spain)

“…It is therefore interesting to identify the factors that induce parents to allocate greater amounts of time to the educational process of their children in general, and to homework in particular. In an attempt at moving beyond the traditional nature–nurture debate and the associated examination of social environment factors, in line with Canova and Vaglio (2010), we seek to identify within-family influences, that is, a child’s home inputs, as a harmful home environment affects children’s behavior and their attitude toward learning (Todd & Wolpin, 2007). Most of the related literature considers the effect of family characteristics on parental involvement in homework (see “Literature Review” section).…”