The Influence of Parents on a Child’s Development

Several studies have noted the education of the parents to be critical in the educational success of the child.  In fact, a parent’s employment and income status has been show to be less of an influence than their educational level.  Seventy-three percent of children with a parent with full-time, year-round employment that does not have a high school diploma live in low-income households while only 17% of children whose parents have some college education live in low-income households (Douglass-Hall & Chau, 2007).  Statistics suggest that parental education is also growing in importance on the economic attainments of children.  Over the past two decades the number of children in low-income households has increased by almost 14% if the parents do not have a high school diploma; even if the parents have full-time, year-round employment.

Of the parents, the mother has been noted by several studies to be the dominate factor on childhood educational attainment.  The higher the mother’s educational level, the more was expected of the children (Davis-Kean, 2005).  Some information also suggests that the importance of the maternal educational level is even greater than the income level of the family.  The role of parental education plays in childhood development appears to be most important in creating a nurturing, supportive environment for the child.

Besides parental education, variables such as child health, childcare arrangements, home environment, and food security are identified as key to child development.  Another factor that has to be accounted for is race because the cultural and social perceptions about education among different races can greatly affect the educational growth of a child.  The warmth and stability provided to a child can often mitigate the disadvantages of being in a low-income household (Davis-Kean 2005).  If children are provided a stable environment the negative effects of financial constraints can be reduced especially as the child ages.

Although the research reviewed on the subject matter has gone to great pains to quantify the pertinent variables, the data is often based on subjective analysis.  For instance, the aforementioned factors such as food security and home environment are often quantified through surveys that rely on the subject to somehow assign a numeric value to a feeling or emotion.  This could lead to inconsistent results especially when one considers that cultural norms can greatly influence a person’s perception of a factor.  Added to all these potential problems is the fact that child development is a time-consuming process with a variety of direct and indirect factors to consider.  Given all of these considerations, this data analysis attempts to review the end results of the parent-child relationship.  First, we start with the income level of the adult and then identify the educational level of the parents to try and establish some form of direct correlation between the parents’ educational level and the socio-economic status of the adult offspring.