Family environments and educational inequality during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK

Abstract

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has posed an unprecedented emergency in education. This study examines the associations between family environments (i.e. parent employment, financial status, and mental health) and home educational factors (i.e. parental support, computer resources, school support, and study time). It utilizes a large-scale probability sample from the Understanding Society COVID-19 study in the UK that included 3125 participants who have school-age children in the household. Findings reveal that socioeconomic status plays a crucial role in explaining differences in family environments and home educational factors during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, there were significant gender gaps in employment, work hours, housework, mental health, and childcare. Nevertheless, people living with a partner had advantages in employment status, financial situation, mental health, childcare, and homeschooling. Overall, family environments were associated with home educational factors, and the relationships varied by family backgrounds in race, immigration status, partner status, and socioeconomic status.