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Working
Paper Series:
05.11
Children's Reading and Math Skills: The Family's Two Constraints
Robert T. Michael
http://www.harrisschool.uchicago.edu/faculty/web-pages/robert-michael.asp
Abstract:
The paper investigates the influence of two distinct family "constraints" on children’s test scores in
reading and mathematics. One is the family’s resources – its income level, the education of the
parents, and one of the parents own ability in reading and math. The influence of this constraint on
children’s cognitive skills has been well-documented in the literatures of several disciplines and is
again confirmed in the two British data sets analyzed here. The other is the constraint of the
parent’s "caring" for the child, the family’s habits regarding nurturing the children, the inclination
to sacrifice in behalf of the children or to expend time and effort with the children. Measured by
several behaviors during the pregnancy and the child’s early years, the study shows that these
family habits of caring for the child are strongly correlated with the child’s test scores in both
reading and math, controlling for the family’s resources. The magnitude of the test score
relationship with caring is approximately as great as is the magnitude of the test score relationship
with parent’s education.
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