Exploring Intergenerational Effects of Education: A Mixed Methods Approach to Understanding Parents' Educational Pursuits and Their Young Children's Development

• In Event: Promising Scholarship in Education: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

Mothers’ education is one of the strongest predictors of children’s social, academic and developmental outcomes throughout the life course. In most child development research, however, mothers’ education is measured at one point in time and is then assumed to be unchanged across a child’s lifetime. Yet, it is increasingly the case that adults do not complete their own education before they have children, but continue their schooling while raising a family. In 2011, over 25% of American undergraduates had at least one dependent child (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2014). It is critical to understand how these families fare when parents return to school. Through two related studies using quantitative and qualitative methods, and multiple datasets, my dissertation explores the relationship between changes in mothers’ educational attainment and their children’s early childhood development.

In Study #1, I apply individual growth modeling to a large national sample of low-income families to describe whether the growth trajectories of children’s vocabulary, early writing, reading and mathematics abilities between the ages of 3 and 7 are altered when their mothers report attaining additional education. Findings suggest a positive relationship between changes in maternal education and children’s early writing and mathematics skills. In addition, children appear to benefit more when their mothers attain additional education after children have transitioned to elementary school.

In Study #2, I examine the experiences of the mothers themselves. Using longitudinal interview data from a sample of low-income mothers with children in Head Start, I explore mothers’ motivation to pursue and persist in continued education while raising a young child. Results from a comparative thematic analysis suggest that motherhood both pushes mothers toward, and pulls them away from, more education. In addition to striving to provide financially for their children, mothers’ desire for personal fulfillment in education and a career is critical to educational success.

Author

• Celia Gomez, Harvard University