Doctoral Dissertation Research in Sociology: Social Policy, Family Structure, and Children's Educational Achievement: A Comparative Study

Pennsylvania State Univ University Park, University Park PA

Investigators

Abstract

Through this research we will better understand how the relationship between single parenthood and children's literacy is affected by a particular country's family policy environment. We will compare 15-year-old students from American single-parent families with their counterparts in 17 other industrialized countries in order to assess whether a nation's family policy environment influences the relationship between single-parenthood and children's literacy achievement through changing single parent family disposable income, changing their parental time inputs, or both. This analysis applies hierarchical linear modelling to data from two sources. First, the individual student data are extracted from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), supplied by the OECD. Second, the country-level family policy data are to be collected from the Social Science Research Unit at the University of York, England. This study examines educational solutions beyond the school context by recognizing the importance of the family and of a national family policy. The focus is the role of social policymaking cross-nationally, and how family policy changes family situations that affect a child's literacy achievement. The results from this research will interest sociologists and other social scientists focusing on education, the family, and comparative research. In addition, this study has the potential to help American policymakers to design social policies that promoting higher academic achievement for all children.