| Aleksandra Holod
Teachers College, Columbia University
Socioeconomic Status and Parental Investments of Time and Money: What Matters Most for Children's School Success?
In keeping with the knowledge that family experiences are critical determinants of children's early cognitive development and academic performance, my dissertation investigates the family processes by which family socioeconomic status influences children's development of math and reading skills. My research is informed by two key hypotheses that have been proposed to explain why children from lower SES families lag behind their higher SES peers: the resource or investment hypothesis and the culture hypothesis. The resource hypothesis places more emphasis on family income and material resources as determinants of child outcomes, while the culture hypothesis suggests that parental education and the time parents spend with children may be more important. Specifically, I examine the following questions: Is parental education or income a more important determinant of parental investments in children? Are the things that money can buy more strongly associated with children's learning, or is the time that parents invest in their children more important? Finally, I investigate whether parental investments are more productive in some families than others. To the extent that I find support for my hypothesis that parental education is a more important determinant of the investments that are most strongly associated with children's academic performance, my research would support efforts to increase disadvantaged parents access to GED programs and/or post-secondary education. If I find that time investments are more important that material investments, parenting skills training could be one strategy to educate parents about the benefits of spending time on educational activities with their children.
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