The Effects of Changing Family Structures on Higher Education for Black and White American Cohorts: 1908-1969

Abstract

Social scientists have been concerned with the effect of social origins on educationalattainment since the early days of the discipline. One important aspect of social origins thatcontinues to occupy the interest of researchers and the public is the family. The issue of race hasalso been central to this concern. Recent demographic changes in mortality and marriagebehavior have had a profound impact on the increasing proportion of children who will reach ageeighteen without both biological parents. This research investigates the effects of trends in familyand household structures on the educational attainment for recent black and white cohorts in theUnited States.We know from previous cross-sectional reports that those who grow up with bothbiological parents are more likely to attain higher levels of education than those who do not. Theweakness of that approach was that it did not account for changes in the effects of familystructure over time. This paper addresses that weakness in greater detail.Using three national surveys, this study considers the implication of changes in the effectof different family types on rates of high school graduation, college attendance, and collegegraduation.The research finds that at any given time, growing up in a non-intact family clearly has anegative effect on adult educational attainment. However, the analysis showed that the effect issomewhat more diverse than previously recognized. For the most part, at higher levels ofeducational attainment there were no significant differences in the effects of family structure overtime. The predicted rates for college attendance and college graduation showed little variationover time. However, significant racial differences in the effects of family structure over time fortwo educational outcomes do exist. If the dependent variable is the number of years of schoolingcompleted, time is a factor to be considered. For whites the comparative advantage of growingup in an intact family remains the same over time. For blacks this advantage declines with eachcohort.With respect to high school completion, the analysis reveals significant changes in theeffect of family structure on rates of high school graduation for whites. In contrast, there appearto be no significant changes in the influence of family structure on high school completion forblacks.