How many pathways underlie socioeconomic differences in the development of cognition and achievement?

Abstract

Children whose parents are more highly educated enjoy greater age-linked gains in cognitive abilities and academic achievement. Different researchers have typically focused on different outcomes, and the extent to which parental education relates to multiple child outcomes via a single developmental pathway has received little empirical attention. This issue was examined by applying common factor structural equation models to a large (N=4810) nationally representative sample of kindergarten through 12th grade children, who were measured on 6 distinct cognitive abilities and 5 distinct forms of knowledge and academic achievement. Results indicated that a single pathway accounted for the relations between parental education and age differences in children's cognitive abilities. However, additional unique pathways were necessary to account for the relations between parental education and age differences in academic knowledge and mathematics. These results suggest that while socioeconomic differences are largely manifested in global aspects of cognitive development, they have incremental relations with some forms of academic achievement.