The achievement of single- and two-parent students: Effects of socioeconomic status, sex, race, and parent's employment status

The focus of this study was the relationship between family structure and academic achievement. The sample consisted of 553 eighth grade students in a rural southeastern school district. Of these students, 129 (23 percent) were from single-parent families. Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills, Form-U, mathematics, reading and composite mean scores were used as measures of achievement.;Analysis of variance and analysis of covariance procedures were employed to test the hypotheses. Students were compared on the basis of family structure by socioeconomic status, race, sex, and parental employment status. Each hypothesis was tested at the.05 level of significance. Results indicated disparities in achievement scores between students from single-parent families versus students from two-parent families. Students from two-parent families performed significantly higher than their single-parent counterparts on all variables with the single exception of CTBS-U mathematics when lunch status was controlled. The results of this study clearly indicated that family structure directly affects academic achievement.