PUB TYPE Dissertations /Theses Masters Theses (042)

This study examined the effect of family composition on high school graduation and level of completed education. It tests the hypotheses that children in single-mother households may be adversely affected in their educational attainment because of the economic deprivation common to such households, the stress caused by family separation, and socialization problems attributable to a lack of male role models. The study used data from the National Survey of Families and Households, which contains information on respondents' household composition while they were growing up and details disruptions in those households where disruptions existed. The effects of family composition on high school graduation, college attendance, and college graduation are examined. Study findings show that divorce and child bearing out of wedlock do contribute negatively to the lives of children, more for Whites than Blacks, w:th regard to educational attainment. Furthermore, it is not single motherhood per se that is detrimental, but the stress and lower income associated with marital break-up that accounts for most of the differences in graduation rates by family composition. Ten tables and seven figures show report data. (Contains 55 references.) (GLR) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document