Doctoral Dissertation Research: Maternal Education and Intergenerational Transmission of Advantage

罗伯特·克罗斯诺詹妮弗·奥古斯丁美国得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校本论文采用混合方法研究母亲的教育历史如何塑造她们的育儿理念和行为，以及通过这些代际关系，她们的孩子在过渡到小学期间取得的成就？S。这样的调查是由社会资本理论和发展研究通过各种父母投资行为和策略将母亲和孩子的教育轨迹联系起来的。在这项研究的基础上，这项研究将梳理出母亲是否？就业和人际关系调节母亲教育、育儿和子女之间的联系？S的成就。先前的研究并不清楚，对于受教育程度较高的母亲或受教育程度较低的母亲，就业或婚姻稳定是否会更多地增加父母对子女的投资，进而扩大或缩小子女的社会经济差异？S的早期研究成果。因此，根据NICHD关于早期儿童保育和青年发展的研究(对1,364名儿童进行的全国出生队列研究)的数据，量化分析将使用路径分析和生长曲线建模技术来检验关于这种联系的一系列相互矛盾的假设。随后，深入访谈将突出与婚姻和就业有关的确切机制，这些机制是量化分析中确定的关联的基础。这部分研究将使用从30名具有不同教育背景的母亲那里收集的深入访谈数据，这些母亲有小学年龄的孩子。回答这些问题，对于优势代际传递的社会学理论以及公共政策都具有广泛的意义。特别是，这项研究突出了母亲教育和育儿在社会阶层矩阵中的作用，补充了主要关注父亲的作用或教育经济回报的丰富的分层研究传统。此外，这项研究将这种代际过程的重点转移到儿童早期，而不是青春期或成年早期，那时儿童学习的社会经济差异首次出现。最后，这项研究考察了家庭因素(教育、就业和婚姻)的汇合，这些因素塑造了父母对子女的投资-S学习，而不是孤立地考虑这些因素。更广泛的影响这项研究细化了对优势如何从一代传递到下一代的概念性理解，同时为政策制定者评估家庭政策、工作计划和人力资本投资对儿童社会经济差异的相对重要性提供了重要的见解？S。这些对社会科学理论和公共政策的贡献将通过在专业会议和同行评议期刊上展示这项研究的结果来实现，这些期刊覆盖了多学科、应用和学术受众。

Robert CrosnoeJennifer AugustineUniversity of Texas at AustinThis dissertation is a mixed methods investigation of how mothers' educational histories shape their parenting philosophies and behaviors and, through these intergenerational relationships, their children?s achievement during the transition to elementary school. Such an investigation is informed by social capital theory and developmental research linking mothers' and children's educational trajectories through various parental investment behaviors and strategies. Expanding upon this research base, this study will tease out whether mothers? employment and relationships moderate linkages among maternal education, parenting, and children?s achievement. Prior research is unclear on whether employment or marital stability enhances parental investments more for higher educated mothers or for less educated mothers, and in turn, magnifies or narrows socioeconomic differences in children?s early achievement. Therefore, drawing on data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, (a national birth cohort study of 1,364 children) quantitative analyses will examine a series of competing hypotheses regarding such linkages using path analysis and growth curve modeling techniques. In-depth interviews will subsequently highlight the precise mechanisms related to marriage and employment underlying the associations identified in the quantitative analyses. This portion of the study will use in-depth interview data collected from 30 mothers of various educational backgrounds who have elementary school-aged children. Answering these questions has broad significance for sociological theory on the intergenerational transmission of advantage as well as for public policy. In particular, this study highlights the role of maternal education and parenting in the social class matrix, complementing a rich tradition of stratification research that has focused principally on the role of fathers or the economic returns to education. Moreover, this study shifts the focus of this intergenerational process to early childhood, as opposed to during adolescence or early adulthood, when socioeconomic differences in children's learning first emerge. Finally, this study examines the confluence of family factors (education, employment, and marriage) that shape parental investments in children?s learning, rather than considering these factors in isolation. Broader Impacts This research refines conceptual understanding of how advantage is transmitted from one generation to the next while providing important insights for policy makers evaluating the relative importance of family policies, work programs, and human capital investments to socioeconomic disparities in children?s early development. These contributions to social scientific theory and public policy will be realized by presenting the findings from this study at professional conferences and in peer-reviewed journals that reach a multidisciplinary, applied and academic, audience.