Doctoral Dissertation Research: Maternal Education and Intergenerational Transmission of Advantage

这篇论文是一个混合的方法调查母亲的教育历史如何塑造他们的育儿哲学和行为，并通过这些代际关系，他们的孩子？在向小学过渡期间取得的成就。 这种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子女的教育轨迹联系起来。在这个研究基础上，这项研究将梳理出母亲是否？母亲教育、养育子女和子女之间的联系是否适度？的成就。先前的研究不清楚就业或婚姻稳定是否会增加教育程度较高的母亲或教育程度较低的母亲的父母投资，从而放大或缩小儿童的社会经济差异？的早期成就。 因此，利用NICHD早期儿童保育和青年发展研究（一项对1，364名儿童的全国出生队列研究）的数据，定量分析将使用路径分析和生长曲线建模技术来研究一系列关于这种联系的相互竞争的假设。随后，深入访谈将突出与婚姻和就业有关的确切机制，这些机制是定量分析中确定的关联的基础。这部分的研究将使用从30位不同教育背景的母亲那里收集的深入访谈数据，这些母亲都有小学年龄的孩子。探讨这些问题，对于研究利益代际传递的社会学理论和公共政策都具有广泛的意义。 特别是，这项研究突出了母亲的教育和养育的社会阶层矩阵的作用，补充了分层研究，主要集中在父亲的作用或教育的经济回报的丰富传统。 此外，这项研究将这一代际过程的重点转移到幼儿期，而不是在青少年或成年早期，当儿童学习的社会经济差异首次出现。 最后，本研究探讨了家庭因素（教育，就业和婚姻）的汇合，塑造父母对孩子的投资？学习，而不是孤立地考虑这些因素。更广泛的影响这项研究完善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。的早期发展。 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审期刊上展示本研究的结果来实现，这些期刊将覆盖多学科，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.