RESEARCH PIECE #1
FATHERS' CHARACTERISTICS AND THEIR CHILDREN'S SCORES ON COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS: A COMPARISON OF INTACT AND DIVORCED FAMILIES
AUTHOR: L. Allen Furr
DATE: Fall 1998
Furr aimed to investigate if children of divorced parents or without a consistent fatherly presence would achieve a lower college entrance exam result.
I chose this article because it was very similar to what I was aiming to conduct my research on and is very in depth in the way that it was researched; it provides lots of detail and study over an extended period of time.
DATE: Fall 1998
Furr aimed to investigate if children of divorced parents or without a consistent fatherly presence would achieve a lower college entrance exam result.
I chose this article because it was very similar to what I was aiming to conduct my research on and is very in depth in the way that it was researched; it provides lots of detail and study over an extended period of time.
Method
A questionnaire was given to 231 students from two urban universities in the midwest. All students were under 24 years of age, and of these 79% were European American and the other 21% African American; 58% were women. 60% of the sample were from non-divorced parent, and the remainder lived either with their mother or mother and stepfather. Students who had lost a parent due to death or whose parents had joint custody were excluded from the study.
Results
A divorced fathers' demographic characteristics (education, ethnicity, income) had no significant influence on their child’s SAT scores. In non-divorced families, ethnicity and income greatly influenced SAT scores. Students from non-divorced families whose fathers were encouraging and actively involved in their child’s academic achievements were shown to have a higher SAT score.
A father’s encouragement of their child seemed to be the most influential of the variables. In divorced families, it was shown that even when fathers provided child support and had visitation days, the SAT scores of children of divorced parents only improved by up to 8%.
A father’s encouragement of their child seemed to be the most influential of the variables. In divorced families, it was shown that even when fathers provided child support and had visitation days, the SAT scores of children of divorced parents only improved by up to 8%.
Conclusion
It was found that when families are not divorced, fathers can provide on a day to day basis their children with resources that will benefit their education. In comparison, the SAT scores of children from divorced families did not seem to be benefited from their fathers' lesser amount of provided material resources, encouragement, and involvement. Fathers of non-divorced children are also able to help in the development of a child’s attitudes, expectations, behavioral examples, stability, attachment, and provide them with emotional support. Overall, while the SAT scores of students with divorced parents were lower than those of students with non-divorced parents, it was also shown that in non-divorced families a father’s education, ethnicity and income had a considerable effect of the child’s SAT score.