Guided by the Family Management framework, we sought to uncover African-American parents' (n=879) academic expectations and worries for their children, the strategies they implement to address each of them, and the ways these vary across socioeconomic (SES) lines. Frequency analyses revealed a variety of academic expectations, worries, and…

This paper examines the long-term association of family socioeconomic status (SES), educational, and labor force outcomes in a regional US longitudinal sample (N = 2264). The results offer insights into the mechanisms underlying the role of family SES in transitions from secondary schooling to early work experiences. It was found that the academic…

This study extends previous research on the long-term connections between motivation constructs in expectancy-value theory and achievement outcomes. Using growth mixture modelling, we examined trajectories of change for 421 students from 4th grade through college in their self-concept of ability (SCA) in math, interest in math, and perceived…

Although it is likely that plans to attend a 4-year college are made much earlier than the last 2 years of high school, few researchers have assessed the pre-high school factors that influence high school performance and course-enrollment decisions, which, in turn, affect college attendance. The data presented in this article were collected as…

Examined the effects of change in parental work status on 883 early adolescents' school adjustment. Based on parental work status, families were characterized as deprived, declining, recovery, and stable. Teacher reports indicated that adolescents in deprived and declining families were less competent than adolescents in recovery and stable…

Investigated parenting behavior, parent/adolescent relationship, and adolescent attitudes and behaviors in three family types. Results showed minimal support for the hypothesis that welfare is negatively related to family processes and adolescent attitudes and behavior, although mothers receiving welfare reported fewer effective parent-management…

This paper is based on a talk given at the conference of the Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning, September 2004. There is consistent evidence that parents' education predicts children's educational outcomes, alongside other distal family characteristics such as family income, parents' occupations and residence location. A…