Single Parents, Working Mothers, and the Educational Achievement of School Children

This paper presents new research on the effects of mother's employment and living in a one-parent family on children's achievement. We take advantage of two nationally representative data bases of students from two age groups and demonstrate the importance of model specification to the determination of effects. Results show that mother's employment and living in a one-parent family can have negative effects on school achievement but that these effects differ by age, race, and family structure. The results also demonstrate the importance of mediating variables such as income and time use.