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

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This finding looks at the relationship between family structure and kindergarten achievement.

Children in families with their married, biological parents had, on average, higher reading achievement scores than peers living with cohabiting parents or in stepfamilies, even when parents’ education, family income and poverty status are taken into account When the duration of parents’ relationship, residential mobility, maternal characteristics, and parenting practices are taken into account, the gap in average reading scores remained between children who lived with their biological parents and those who lived with cohabiting parents.

Sample or Data Description
Data come from the Early Child Longitudinal Study (ECLS), which consists of some 20,000 children and is representative of the 4 million children enrolled in kindergarten in the fall of 1998. The analytical sample consists of 11,519 children living with their biological mothers who responded to the survey and were married or living in cohabiting relationships. Children of single parents, adoptive parents, or same-gender partners, as well as children who repeated kindergarten, were not included in the analytical sample.

Source
"Maternal Cohabitation and Child Well-Being Among Kindergarten Children"
Artis, Julie
Journal of Marriage and Family Vol. 69, Number . February , 2007. Page(s) 222-236.

FindingID: 8936