Family Structure and Educational Attainment: A Cross-National Analysis

Abstract

Studies of the relation between family structure and achievement have found that parental dominance is negatively related to the desire to achieve and to scholastic progress. As a test of the effects of parental dominance on the development of achievement potential, the association between perceived parent-adolescent relations and the likelihood of reaching secondary school was investigated in a secondary analysis of data from approximately 1,000 interviewees ages 18 and over in the U.S., Great Britain, West Germany, Italy, and Mexico. Parental dominance in adolescence was negatively associated with the probability of reaching secondary school in all five nations. Size of birthplace, religion, and social class were also associated with educational achievement, but parental dominance retained its effects even when these variables were controlled, except under conditions indicating a lack of educational opportunity.