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The Influence of Parent Education and Family Income on Child Achievement: The Indirect Role of Parental Expectations and the Home Environment.

Journal of Family Psychology · 2005 · 2.4K citations · 25 references

TL;DR

The study examined how parents’ education and income indirectly affect child achievement through parental beliefs and behaviors. The authors used a national cross‑sectional sample of 868 eight‑to‑twelve‑year‑old children, roughly balanced by gender and comprising 49 % non‑Hispanic European American and 47 % African American participants. Structural equation modeling revealed that socioeconomic status influences child achievement indirectly via parental beliefs and behaviors, with the pathway differing by race, and underscored parents’ years of schooling as a key socioeconomic factor for policy and research.

Abstract

This study examined the process of how socioeconomic status, specifically parents' education and income, indirectly relates to children's academic achievement through parents' beliefs and behaviors. Data from a national, cross-sectional study of children were used for this study. The subjects were 868 8-12-year-olds, divided approximately equally across gender (436 females, 433 males). This sample was 49% non-Hispanic European American and 47% African American. Using structural equation modeling techniques, the author found that the socioeconomic factors were related indirectly to children's academic achievement through parents' beliefs and behaviors but that the process of these relations was different by racial group. Parents' years of schooling also was found to be an important socioeconomic factor to take into consideration in both policy and research when looking at school-age children.