Degree Year

1997

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Sociology

Advisor(s)

Daphne John
William Norris

Keywords

Single parent, Motherhood, Single motherhood, Economic, Intergenerational, Education

Abstract

My analysis adds to the literature on single motherhood by trying to refine a structural equations model to use to examine the causal importance and relationships between economics and parenting in single mother families and the effect on intergenerational attainment. This work also utilizes the relatively new longitudinal data from the second wave of the National Survey of Families and Households which includes more comprehensive (measuring participation in school activities and adding indexes to previously single indicator concepts) measures of parenting practices (Thomson, Hanson, and McLahanan 1994; Astone and McLanahan 1991). Further, the role of these and economic factors are considered on years of education completed and, as discussed subsequently, on whether or not adult offspring have ever enrolled in a four-year college or university to illuminate the effect of educational attainment on eventual socioeconomic status (occupational prestige and earnings). As suggested by Astone and McLahanan (1991), it is hoped that these measures of educational attainment will capture the intergenerational effects of growing up in a female-headed family.

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