How Multiple Domains of Fathering Affect Children's Educational Success

Wei-Jun Jean Yeung, New York University

This paper examines the process by which different types of resources from fathers contribute to children's school success. Special attention is given to the impact of father's social capital, as compared to that of his financial and human capital. A conceptual framework for how father's resources affect children's well-being is proposed. The analysis is based on data collected from a national sample of American children aged 6-12 who lived in intact families that participated in the 1997 Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Measures of paternal social capital include father-child relationship, father-mother relationship, father's co-parenting behavior, and father's community involvement. Children's cognitive achievement is measured with the Woodcock-Johnson Achievement Test scores [W-J]. Father's education, income, monitoring behavior, the extent to which they provide co-parenting support to the mother, and the cognitive stimulation in the learning environment outside of school are found to be strongly associated with children's test scores.