Doctoral Dissertation Research: Maternal Education and Intergenerational Transmission of Advantage

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

Robert Crosnoe Jennifer Augustine University of Texas at Austin This dissertation is a mixed methods investigation of how mothers' educational histories shape their parenting philosophies and behaviors and, through these intergenerational relationships, their children?s achievement during the transition to elementary school. Such an investigation is informed by social capital theory and developmental research linking mothers' and children's educational trajectories through various parental investment behaviors and strategies. Expanding upon this research base, this study will tease out whether mothers? employment and relationships moderate linkages among maternal education, parenting, and children?s achievement. Prior research is unclear on whether employment or marital stability enhances parental investments more for higher educated mothers or for less educated mothers, and in turn, magnifies or narrows socioeconomic differences in children?s early achievement. Therefore, drawing on data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, (a national birth cohort study of 1,364 children) quantitative analyses will examine a series of competing hypotheses regarding such linkages using path analysis and growth curve modeling techniques. In-depth interviews will subsequently highlight the precise mechanisms related to marriage and employment underlying the associations identified in the quantitative analyses. This portion of the study will use in-depth interview data collected from 30 mothers of various educational backgrounds who have elementary school-aged children. Answering these questions has broad significance for sociological theory on the intergenerational transmission of advantage as well as for public policy. In particular, this study highlights the role of maternal education and parenting in the social class matrix, complementing a rich tradition of stratification research that has focused principally on the role of fathers or the economic returns to education. Moreover, this study shifts the focus of this intergenerational process to early childhood, as opposed to during adolescence or early adulthood, when socioeconomic differences in children's learning first emerge. Finally, this study examines the confluence of family factors (education, employment, and marriage) that shape parental investments in children?s learning, rather than considering these factors in isolation. Broader Impacts This research refines conceptual understanding of how advantage is transmitted from one generation to the next while providing important insights for policy makers evaluating the relative importance of family policies, work programs, and human capital investments to socioeconomic disparities in children?s early development. These contributions to social scientific theory and public policy will be realized by presenting the findings from this study at professional conferences and in peer-reviewed journals that reach a multidisciplinary, applied and academic, audience.