Social-class parenting practices and their influence on educational outcomes in the United States and Scotland

Abstract

Drawing upon Lareau's (2011) work on social class and family life, this study explored social-class differences in children's cognitive outcomes from the United States and Scotland—two nations that share a policy emphasis on parental engagement to reduce the achievement gap. At the same time, the two countries differ in the extent to which such policy orientations are enforced, in the overall levels of socioeconomic inequality, and in the form and extent of welfare support for families and children. We find that parental endeavors are not unequivocally associated with children's outcomes. Findings from our decomposition analyses indicate that some practices of concerted cultivation are positively associated with children's outcomes but that the strength and direction of the relation often depend on children's social background. Moreover, social-class differences in parenting practices are more pronounced and more often statistically significant in the United States than in Scotland.