Scholastic Achievement and Family Marital Structure: Bedouin-Arab Adolescents From Monogamous and Polygamous Families in Israel

Abstract

In a sample of Bedouin-Arab adolescents from monogamous and polygamous families in the Negev region of Israel, the authors examined scholastic achievement levels in the subjects of Arabic, English, Hebrew, and mathematics. There were no significant differences in the scholastic achievement levels in those 4 disciplines between adolescents from monogamous families and those from polygamous families. There was, however, a significant interaction between gender and family marital structure for Hebrew scores: Polygamous family structures tended to engender higher Hebrew scores for the male participants, whereas monogamous family structures tended to engender higher Hebrew scores for the female participants. However, the major overall finding was that polygamous family marital structures did not affect deleteriously the scholastic achievement levels of the Bedouin-Arab participants.