Panel Paper: Understanding the Relationship Between Increases in Maternal Education and Child Development

Saturday, November 8, 2014 : 1:45 PM
Jemez (Convention Center)

*Names in bold indicate Presenter

Celia J. Gomez, Harvard University
The positive relationship between maternal education and child academic achievement is one of the most well documented correlations in developmental research; in most studies, however, maternal education is treated as static. Using data from the Head Start Impact Study, I employ individual growth modeling to explore the relationship between changes in maternal education and children’s cognitive development (between the ages of 3 and 8 years old.) My findings suggest that children’s cognitive skills scores improve when their mothers attain additional education.