"Understanding Academic Achievement among children in stephouseholds: The role of parental resources, sex of stepparent, and sex of child."
Only in the last decade has extensive research been conducted on stepchildren and stepparents. Most of that research has been on the social and psychological profiles of stephouseholds. Relatively little research has been conducted on the effects of stephouseholds on children's academic achievement. It is known that stepchildren do not perform as well as their counterparts in school. In this article, the author examines the role of parental resources as a moderating variable in children's academic achievement. Variables used in the model include interpersonal, economic, and cultural parental resources.
Previous research indicates that stepchildren underperform academically compared to children from households with both biological parents. Past researchers attributed this to a difference in parental resources. However, stepchildren do perform roughly equivalent to children from single parent households, despite having higher family incomes.
Higher family incomes can have a direct effect on academic achievement because wealthier households are more likely to have resources such as encyclopedias or computers available.
Prior research, however, indicates that some parental resources are unrelated to economic factors. Interpersonal resources, such as daily discussions about school work, can be related to economics (e.g., if one parent earns enough to be a sole breadwinner, the other parent is free to maintain interpersonal contact with the children). However, research indicates that interpersonal resources are sometimes unrelated to economic factors.
Cultural resources can also be an important factor. Activities such as visiting museums can have a profound impact on academic achievement. Although research indicates that there is a significant correlation between socioeconom...