1996/08/01 by Jerold Heiss · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Parental Involvement in Education #Family Dynamics and Relationships #Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies
paper · doi:10.2307/3096977
openalex publication_date 1996/08/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
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.