Low-Income Parents: How Do Working Conditions Affect Their Opportunity to Help School-Age Children At Risk?

Abstract

Numerous studies have documented the importance of parental involvement to children's success at school. Much of the discussion about what influences the outcomes of poor children has assumed that low-income parents have the same opportunity to help with their children's education. Yet, parents' availability to be involved with their children's education is often determined by job benefits and working conditions. The goal of this article is to examine empirically whether low-income working parents face significantly different nonfinancial barriers to parental involvement than those faced by higher income working parents. In particular, we examine the working conditions faced by parents who have at least one child who is in need of help because of educational or behavioral problems. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth––Mother and Child Surveys (NLSY) on 1, 878 families where mothers worked more than 20 hr per week were analyzed.