Premium
Processes Linking Father Absence to Educational Attainment Among African American Females
Author(s) -
Gillette Meghan T.,
Gudmunson Clinton G.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of research on adolescence
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.342
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1532-7795
pISSN - 1050-8392
DOI - 10.1111/jora.12066
Subject(s) - socioeconomic status , developmental psychology , psychology , psychosocial , educational attainment , structural equation modeling , african american , demography , erikson's stages of psychosocial development , panel study of income dynamics , sociology , demographic economics , population , economic growth , ethnology , statistics , mathematics , psychiatry , economics
Previous researchers have assessed how father absence influences both socioeconomic and reproductive development, but have not analyzed these relationships jointly or used theoretical support for explaining why father absence affects socioeconomic and reproductive development, especially for African American girls. Guided by the family economic stress model and psychosocial acceleration theory, this study investigates how and why these relationships exist for 532 African American females. Structural equation modeling revealed that longer duration of father absence predicted lowered educational attainment in early adulthood via lower income, increased economic pressure, accelerated reproductive development, and lowered educational expectations. We include recommendations for the use of these perspectives to better understand the interplay between family socioeconomic processes and reproductive maturation in African American females.