Recipients of PSC Small Grant Awards

Active parental involvement is one of the most important factors shaping children’s educational trajectories. Research indicates that children raised in single parent households tend to receive less help with schoolwork than children raised by both biological parents. This line of research, however, overlooks how minority and/or low-income households, categories in which single parent families are overrepresented, often develop models of child rearing that rely less on the nuclear family, and more on extended kin networks in the academic enrichment of their children. This finding suggests that for disadvantaged groups, extended kin could have a compensatory effect on children’s educational outcomes. This study examines how single parent households with and without coresident extended kin differ in levels of parental involvement and educational achievement for children. Three questions guide the research: (1) Does the presence of extended kin in single-parent households facilitate increases in parental involvement in education? (2) Is extended kin coresidence related to children’s educational achievement? (3) Does the association between extended kin coresidence and educational achievement depend on stability of family structure?