The Role of Household Composition and Household Transitions in the Academic Performance of Latina/o Children of Immigrants

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

Abstract

I intend to present results from the second chapter of my dissertation that explore how household compositions – the number and types of members in the home – and transitions – the exits or entries of members – from kindergarten through 5th grade shape the academic performance of Latina/o children of immigrants and Latina/o native-born children in comparison to White native-born children. I draw on the ECLS-K:2011 to analyze academic performance – mathematics and reading scores – and classroom behavior. Since early childhood experiences are important indicators for future performance, my dissertation fills a gap in understanding how these are impacted by both household composition and transitions. Further, most literature on Latina/o children of immigrants has focused on adolescents, we know much less about the academic experiences of young children. I draw on family structure and instability-stress theories to conceptualize household composition and transitions as external factors that impact a child’s educational outcomes.

My second chapter follows the results from my first chapter on Latina/o children of immigrants’ household compositions (measured through membership in a single-parent household or an extended family household). In my first chapter, I found that Latina/o children of immigrants are less likely to belong to single-parent households while Latina/o native-born children are more likely to when compared to White native-born children. Further, I found that both Latina/o children of immigrants and Latina/o native-born children are more likely to belong to an extended household compared to White native-born children. I suspect that these differences in household compositions will have important implications for children’s’ academic performance and classroom behavior. Prior work demonstrates that single-parenthood typically places children at a disadvantaged and while we understand less about the consequences of membership in extended household, I will empirically test their implications in my second chapter.

In my poster, I will present results from longitudinal regression models that account for household compositions and changes in compositions from kindergarten through the 4th grade. I intend to include 5th grade data in my chapter once it becomes available in Summer 2018. My results section will be split into two sections: one on the impact of membership in single-parent households on children’s academic experiences and another on the impact of extended household membership. I will include models that compare the mathematics and reading performance of Latina/o children of immigrants and Latina/o native-born children to White native-born children. As a distinct measure of academic experiences, I will also include models with classroom behavior as the outcome variable. I hope that clear and direct results that I present will help me receive guided feedback to establish a strong theoretical section in my chapter with implications for both the education and family sociological literatures.

Author

• Daniel Millan, University of California - Irvine