Effects of African American Family Structure on School Attitudes and Performance

Abstract

A test is made of the idea that variations in family structure (mother-only vs. two-parent families) have a major effect on the school attitudes and behavior of African American high-school students. Data from the High School and Beyond study show that coming from mother-only families has a small negative effect on education aspirations and expectations, task preparedness, grades, and the likelihood of staying in school. The effect of family structure is substantial only in regard to disciplinary problems. These results occur, in part, because the assumed socio-economic intervening variables — income and mother's work history — have a weak relationship to the dependent variables. Furthermore, another potential intervening variable, parental involvement, which is strongly related to the dependent variables, has only a weak relationship to family structure. When the analysis is limited to African American males the results are similar. Whites show about the same pattern as Blacks, and contrary to expectations, the effects are not consistently stronger for whites.