Family Policies and Children's School Achievement in Single- Versus Two-Parent Families

We investigate the gap in math and science achievement of third- and fourth-graders who live with a single parent versus those who live with two parents in 11 countries. The United States and New Zealand rank last among the countries we compare in terms of the equality of achievement between childre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of marriage and family 2003-08, Vol.65 (3), p.681-699
Main Authors: Pong, Suet-ling, Dronkers, Jaap, Hampden-Thompson, Gillian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Children
Children & youth
Coefficients
Cognitive Development
Comparative analysis
Cross Cultural Studies
Crosscultural Analysis
Demography
Divorce
Education
Elementary Education
Families & family life
Family Policy
Family School Relationship
Family Structure
Family studies
Households
international comparison
Interpersonal relations
Marriage
Mathematics
Mathematics Achievement
Of General Interest
One Parent Family
One-parent families
Outcomes of Education
Parent Participation
Parenthood
Parents
Parents & parenting
Public Policy
Science Achievement
Sexuality. Marriage. Family relations
Single Parent Family
Single parents
Sociology
Sociology of the family
Sociology of the family. Age groups
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Summary:We investigate the gap in math and science achievement of third- and fourth-graders who live with a single parent versus those who live with two parents in 11 countries. The United States and New Zealand rank last among the countries we compare in terms of the equality of achievement between children from single-parent families and those from two-parent homes. Following a multilevel analysis, we find single parenthood to be less detrimental when family policies equalize resources between single- and two-parent families. In addition, the single- and two-parent achievement gap is greater in countries where single-parent families are more prevalent. We conclude that national family policies can offset the negative academic outcomes of single parenthood.
ISSN:0022-2445
1741-3737
DOI:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2003.00681.x