Poster #31 - Low Income yet Highly Educated: Trajectory and Achievement Differences in Children from Low income, High Education Families

• In Event: 2-001 - Poster Session 1 during Breakfast

Abstract

Past research in developmental psychology has often focused on families with a relatively strong relation between parental education and family income (i.e., low education and low income or high education and high income). Both education and income play an important role for children’s development, particularly on academic achievement, but their specific mechanisms remain understudied (Davis-Kean, 2005). The purpose of the current study is to examine heterogeneity within low-income yet highly-educated families. In particular, we will examine family’s income trajectories over time in order to differentiate between families experiencing chronic or transient poverty. Second, we will examine differences in children’s achievements based on family’s income trajectories.

Data come from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (Kindergarten ‘98/99, ECLS-K) and included 768 families who are in or near poverty but have at least one parent with a Bachelor’s degree or higher when the child is in Kindergarten. Preliminary results using only complete cases (n=282) revealed a number of interesting findings. First, latent class growth analyses were conducted on income status over four waves. A three-class solution had the best model fit (see Figure 1 for class trajectories and Table 1 for class descriptives). Class 1 (29%) consisted of families who obtained a higher income fairly soon after Kindergarten (“transients”). Class 2 (37%) consisted of families who fluctuated between income groups over time (“fluctuaters”). And Class 3 (34%) consisted of families who were chronically low-income (“chronics”).

Next, we examined whether class means differed on reading and math achievement in eighth grade. Analyses examining class differences on eighth grade achievement scores found significant variation in reading and math scores. Post hoc tests revealed that Class 1 (“transients”) scored significantly higher on both reading and math tests compared to Class 3 (“chronics”). There were no significant differences between Class 1 (“transients”) and Class 2 (“fluctuaters”), or between Class 2 (“fluctuaters”) and Class 3 (“chronics”).

These results are preliminary and relied on a smaller sample, but additional analyses will use multiple imputation to make full use of the full sample of this subpopulation (n=768). These analyzes will examine the role of parent demographic predictors of class membership and investigate class differences in achievement. These findings emphasize the importance of examining differences within subgroups as there is significant variation in characteristics among people living in seemingly identical conditions and may lead to a better understanding of different pathways that parent education and income relate to children’s achievement.

Authors

• Lauren Tighe, University of Michigan
  Presenting Author

• Pamela Davis-Kean, University of Michigan