FAMILY-STRUCTURE, ECONOMIC-STATUS, AND EDUCATIONAL-ATTAINMENT

This study examines the effect of family structure on high school grad uation by race and gender using data from the first twenty-one waves o f the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and recently available retrospect ive marital histories. The nature of the data allows for a more comple te specification of family structure than has been heretofore possible . The analysis tests the hypothesis that the negative effect on educat ional attainment often associated with living in a mother-only or step father family stems primarily from the reduced level of economic resou rces available to these households. Empirical findings indicate that l iving with a widowed, divorced, or separated mother has little or no e ffect on educational attainment once we control for economic status. H owever, living in a stepfather family appears to have a persistent neg ative effect on high school graduation rates.