Family Facts: Social Science Research on Family, Society & Religion

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This finding looks at the relationship between family structure and socioeconomic attainment.

Each additional year of school improved children’s future socioeconomic status, but the gains varied according to family structure. For each additional year of school, children from two-parent families scored a gain of four points on a socioeconomic index scale; their peers from stepfamilies scored three points, peers from single-mother families scored three points, and peers from single-father families scored 3.5 points.

Sample or Data Description
The study used data from the 1962 Occupational Changes in a Generation (OCG I) survey, the 1973 OCG II survey, the pooled 1986-88 Surveys of Income and Program and Participation (SIPPs), and the 1992-94 wave of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH).

Source
"Family Structure, Educational Attainment, and Socioeconomic Success: Rethinking the “Pathology of Matriarchy”"
Biblarz, Timothy J.
Raftery, Adrian E.
American Journal of Sociology Vol. 105, Number 2. September, 1999. Page(s) 321-65.

FindingID: 6783