talented low-income minority youth (aged 18 33 yrs), did find a single parent effect. In the study, all students completed a questionnaire about achievements and family background and beliefs.
Findings showed that while school achievement occurred under a variety of home environments, with varying levels of parental education and family size, smaller single-parent families and larger two-parent families were both advantageous. In these homes, parents tended to have high expectations and aspirations for their children.
Another reason for speculating about the generalizability of the single parent effect to low income African-American students concerns the fact that, some researchers (see: Milne, Myers, Rosenthal & Ginsburg, 1986) have observed that often what looks like a single parent effect is really a low-income effect. What is meant here is that the formation of a single parent family (usually through divorce) is also accompanied by a dramatic decrease in income.
Inadequate income, in turn, often means a number of failures regarding learning-related activities, e.g. less space for children to study school materials, less books and other materials fostering educational excellence in the home, and so froth. Such inadequacies often result in lowered achievement levels for students.
Given the foregoing, it seems reasonable to suggest here that if all that is being observed is an effect attributable to variance in income, then a sample which included only low income students could be expected to show an absence of the characteristic single parent effect. In an effort to test the validity of the above claim, this study will assess the achievement levels of a sample of eighth grade, low income students to determine whether achievement levels significantly differ as a function of whether students are living in one-parent homes, homes with both biological parents, or homes with one biological parent and one stepparen...