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The study investigated the relationship between broken homes and academic achievement of students. Three research hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The study was correlational because the study sought [...]

Three waves of panel data from 7,897 adolescents in the National Education Longitudinal Studies have been used to investigate whether a stabilized postdivorce family environment benefits adolescents' academic performance trajectories. The analyses indicate that compared with peers who grow up in stable postdivorce families, children of divorce who experience additional family transitions during late adolescence make less progress in their math and social studies performance over time. Furthermore, family resource differences before and during late adolescence either partially or completely account for the less positive performance trajectories in two types of divorced families. Finally, daughters in unstable postdivorce families appear to make less academic progress over time than sons. The study illustrates the importance of incorporating both postdivorce family transitions and repeatedly measured child outcomes in the investigation of divorce effects. Keywords: academic performance; academic progress; family instability; family structure; parental divorce 10.1177/0192513X09339022

Beliefs regarding nonresidential parents' obligation to assist with college expenses were examined using a factorial vignette design with a random sample of 407 participants. Obligations to assist continue providing child support for children beyond the age of majority were contingent children attending college. However, only 52% of respondents believed that the nonresidential parent should continue paying child support for children in college. Differing obligation beliefs were largely rooted in divergent childrearing philosophies. This suggests that college support laws may interfere with what the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly asserted is a fundamental parental right to direct children's upbringing, including education, without undue governmental interference. doi: 10.1300/J087v48n03_07 KEYWORDS. Child support, divorce, nonresidential parents, family law, college tuition

This study tests McLanahan and Sandefur's hypothesis that children from reconstituted families score lower in academic achievement due to the fact that their custodial families are more likely to move than children from intact families. If this hypothesis is correct, one would expect that children from reconstituted families whose parents moved during a substantial period of time would perform more poorly academically than their counterparts whose families did not move during the same period. Using the NELS 1988-1992 data set, the academic achievement of children whose parents remained remarried during the entire 1988-1992 period was examined. The academic achievement of children from these households whose custodial parent moved during the 1988-1992 period was compared to their counterparts whose custodial parent did not move during the same period. The analyses were performed for children from both divorced and widowed reconstituted families and also those from only divorced reconstituted families. The results showed no statistically significant differences between the two groups, but directional differences consistently emerged. Both the merits and possible problems with McLanahan and Sandefur's hypothesis are discussed.

By the time they turn 18, approximately 50 to 60 percent of all children in the United States have been affected by divorce (Furstenberg, 1990). Virtually every teacher needs to […]

Most educational leaders are aware of the added academic challenges that children of divorce from single-parent homes face. However, there has been an assumption among educators and the American public that parental remarriage benefits children academically. Therefore, educational researchers and theorists have given almost no exhortations for teachers and principals about sensitizing themselves to the needs of children of divorce from reconstituted families. Using the 1988 National Educational Longitudinal Survey data set, this study matched students by family structure, race, and socioeconomic status. The results indicate that children of divorce from reconstituted families score no higher and often even lower in academic achievement than children of divorce from single-parent families. Therefore, the assumption by many educators that children of divorce from reconstituted families are better off academically than children of divorce from single-parent families is not supported.

Research has been undertaken into the impact of family background on children's eighth-grade math and reading achievement. Particular attention was given to the performance of children from single-parent families and stepfamilies. It was established that being from a single-parent family or a stepfamily can negatively affect a child's performance. This can be the result of the generally low socioeconomic status of such families. Strong social relationships between parents can partly mitigate the effects of family background.

A case-control study was done to observe the association between the parents' divorce and their children's results in school. The information was obtained from a questionnaire which was answered by the counselors of 8 public schools in Santiago, Chile. From one class of each school, 52 pupils of divorced marriages were searched. The control group of 52 pupils of non-divorced parents was chosen by selecting the name following the case on the class list. The children of divorced parents were: 37 (71%) girls, 15 (29%) boys, the average age was 11.8 [+ or -] 0. 8 years; 12 (29%) had failed the year; the average marks were 5.2 [+ or -] 0.7 (range 1-7) and the average attendance was 92 [+ or -] 8%. The controls were: 33 (63%) girls, 19 (37%) boys, the average age was 11.4 [+ or -] 0.6 years; 3 (5.7%) had failed the year; the average marks were 5.9 [+ or -] 0.5 (range 1-7); the average attendance was 94.5 [+ or -] 4.5%. The conclusion is that children of divorced marriages have 4.9 more estimated relative risk (RR) of failing year and 7.1 times more estimated relative risk of having an average mark of 5.5 or lower than children of non-divorced parents. These numbers must be observed with caution because of the small size sample and show an association but are not cause-effect.

Family separation has a negative impact on the educational achievements of children at age 16, compared with children from intact families, according to a study of Swedish data. Attainment is affected by downward social mobility, possibly more so than economic deprivation. The increased time constraints of the custodial parent does not appear to be a key factor in the negative effect, while the child's aspirations could decline when the better-educated parent with the higher social position leaves.

A questionnaire survey of 192 students in a state university to study the impact of parental divorce on children's access to college education reveals that the financial support provided by families for college education is less for students with divorced parents. These students receive more Pell grants, provide their own financial requirements and pay their college fees themselves. Custodial parents satisfy most of the material and financial necessities of such students.

Academic achievement and tendency to stay in school have been linked in the past to family structure. Adolescents from broken homes often drop out of school or fail to achieve to their potential. In an effort to study differences among adolescents from intact, single-parent, and remarried families, data for 13,532 high school students were extracted from a national survey and analyzed with regard to achievement test performance, grades in high school, and probability of dropping out of school between the sophomore and senior year. Achievement test scores for the three groups differed significantly, with students from intact families scoring highest and students from remarried families scoring lowest. Differences in drop-out behavior were more significant. While students from both single-parent and remarried families had rates of drop out behavior about equally higher than students from intact families, students living with the parent of the opposite sex were more likely to drop out of school between sophomore and senior year in single-parent families but less likely to do so in remarried families. One explanation offered for these last results is that children who live with their same-sex parents in single-parent families develop a particularly strong bond that they perceive to be lost or threatened when the parent remarries. It appears as though adolescents are at greatest risk for dropping out of school if they do not live with both their natural parents, especially when living with the same-gender parent in a remarried family. The risk is lower when the adolescent lives with the same-sex parent in a single-parent family, and is lowest in intact families. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Schools should serve as important vehicles for helping children of divorced parents with the typical feelings of anger, abandonment and sadness that characterize family breakups. Educators should strive to involve both parents in the school lives of their children through information dissemination and conferences. Educators should also pay special attention to these children by encouraging them to speak out and express their emotions freely., Schools can mitigate the classroom effects of family breakups by recognizing and responding to the child's feelings and involving both parents in the child's school life. I just had a [...]

Far fewer children of divorced parents enroll at selective colleges than do children from intact families, according to a U.S. News and World Report survey. Children of divorce are about half as likely to attend colleges rated most selective as those who have both biological parents living with them while in high school. In fact, the divorced group was 13% less likely to apply to college at all.