Kim, Youngmi
Impacts of Parental Resources on Child Educational Outcomes: Assets and Mediating Pathways
Working Paper, Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis, 2009
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Washington University
Keyword(s): Assets; College Enrollment; Debt/Borrowing; Educational Aspirations/Expectations; Educational Attainment; Family Income; High School Completion/Graduates; Home Ownership; Parental Investments; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) (see Self-Esteem);

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The study poses the following questions. First, what types of parental economic resources are associated with children’s educational attainment? Second, do impacts of parental economic resources on educational milestones vary by type of educational attainment?: high school drop-out experience, high school completion, college attendance, and college degree attainment. Third, does parental involvement, children’s educational expectations, or children’s self-esteem mediate the effects of parental economic resources on children’s educational attainment?

Kim, Youngmi
Sherraden, Michael
Do Parental Assets Matter for Children's Educational Attainment?: Evidence from Mediation Tests
Children and Youth Services Review 33,6 (June 2011): 969-979.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740911000144
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Assets; College Enrollment; Educational Aspirations/Expectations; Educational Attainment; Educational Outcomes; Family Income; Family Resources; High School Completion/Graduates; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) (see Self-Esteem); School Quality; Self-Esteem;

This study investigates (1) the effects of parental assets on children's educational attainment from high school completion to college degree attainment, and (2) mediating roles played by parental involvement, child's educational expectations, and child's self-esteem. The study sample (N = 632) is drawn from the Child and Young Adult data supplement to the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979. Results indicate that parental assets are associated with children's later educational attainment. Financial assets and home-ownership are significantly associated with high school completion and college attendance. In addition, family income becomes non-significant when specific measures of assets and liabilities are taken into account. Non-financial assets and income are significant predictors of college degree attainment. Children's educational expectations mediate the effect of financial assets on high school completion. Empirical evidence provides support for asset-building programs and policies designed to promote long-term educational attainment.

Loke, Vernon
Kim, Youngmi
Changes in Parental Assets and Children's Educational Outcomes across Income Status
Presented: New Orleans, LA, The Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) annual meetings, January 17-20, 2008
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR)
Keyword(s): Assets; Child Development; Children, Well-Being; Educational Outcomes; Family Resources; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading);

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Purpose: Much of the research examining Sherraden's (1991) asset effects have focused on the experience of asset holding. Assets could also be experienced in terms of the process of asset accumulation or its consumption (Paxton, 2001). However, little empirical work has been done to examine the effects of the process of accumulation. Moreover, most studies do not differentiate the effects of assets on the different socioeconomic classes, nor do they discriminate between the different asset measures. This paper aims to fill this gap in the knowledgebase by examining the relationship between the process of asset accumulation as measured by the change in assets over time, with children's educational outcomes. In addition, we will examine if the effects are moderated by the level of family income. We hypothesize that the increase in assets over time will be associated with children's educational outcomes, in particular, that the different asset measures will have differential effects for the various income groups.

Methods: Data on 1342 children ages 7 to 14 in the year 2000 and on their mothers drawn from the NLSY79 and the NLSY79 Children and Young Adults datasets are used for this study. The outcome measures are children's PIAT standardized scores in math and reading in 2000. The process of asset accumulation is measured by whether there is an increase in net-worth, net-worth less home equity, and in liquid assets, from 1996 to 2000. Income is measured be averaging the total net family income over 1996 to 2000. Other variables include various mothers' socio-demographic data. A series of OLS regressions by the different income quartiles were conducted to examine the relationship between changes in assets and children's educational outcomes.

Results: The findings support our hypothesis that the different asset measures have differential effects for the various income groups. Increases in net worth significantly predict better math scores for children from the 2nd (b=4.04, t=2.19, p=0.03, N=173) and 4th income quartiles (b=4.70, t=2.08, p<0.04, N=171). Increases in net-worth less home equity is also significantly associated with better math outcomes for the 2nd income quartile (b=4.70, t=2.65, p=0.009, N=180) but lower math scores for children from the 3rd income quartile (b=-4.78, t=-2.21, p=0.03, N=165). Similarly, increases in liquid assets significantly predicts better math outcomes for children from the 2nd (b=3.63, t=2.19, p=0.03, N=201) and 4th (b=4.75, t=2.22, p=0.03, N=193) income quartiles, but lower math scores for the 3rd (b=-4.31, t=-2.03, p=0.04, N=181) income quartile. No significant associations are found for reading scores across the different asset measures. Race and mother's education are also found to significant predict children's math scores in the models reported above.

Implications: Our study calls for additional longitudinal research to further explicate the dynamic relationship between the process of asset accumulation across the different asset measures and children's outcomes for the different income groups. Diverse policy approaches would also need to be introduced to maximize the effects of parental assets on children's outcomes across income status.

Pandey, Shanta
Zhan, Min
Kim, Youngmi
Bachelor's Degree for Women with Children: A Promising Pathway to Poverty Reduction
Equal Opportunities International 25,7 (2006): 488-505.
Also: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0261-0159.htm
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Emerald
Keyword(s): Economic Well-Being; Educational Attainment; Mothers, Education; Poverty; Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF); Welfare;

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Purpose – In spite of the War on Poverty programs of the 1960s and the economic boom of the 1990s, poverty remains consistently high among families with children in the USA. The main source of income for these families is employment, which is largely a function of educational attainment. The purpose of this paper is to turn to aggregate and individual level data and demonstrate the power of college education in economic well-being of women with children.

Design/methodology/approach – A nationally representative sample of single and married mothers was retrieved and the role of education in economic well-being of these women was examined using descriptive, bi-variate, and multiple ordinal logistic regression.

Shanks, Trina Williams
Kim, Youngmi
Loke, Vernon
Destin, Mesmin
Assets and Child Well-Being in Developed Countries
CSD Working Papers No. 09-66, Center for Social Development, George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis, 2009.
Also: http://csd.wustl.edu/Publications/Documents/WP09-66.pdf
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: Center for Social Development, George Warren Brown School of Social Work
Keyword(s): Assets; Child Development; Children, Well-Being; Family Resources; Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID);

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Although there is no universal approach to offering Child Development Accounts (CDAs), this paper introduces a framework for an age-based conceptual model that describes how such accounts might influence indicators of child wellbeing. With a focus on optimal age-appropriate development beginning at birth and ranging through young adulthood, the model incorporates research from multiple disciplines to include direct effects, indirect effects and critical milestones. We review empirical evidence from national datasets (primarily from the United States, but including research from other developed countries) to provide a context for this framework. This conceptual and empirical backdrop provides a starting point from which to critique key dimensions of CDA policy and consider potential implications of such an approach. Suggestions for future research are offered.