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Author: Harmon, Sandra M.
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Harmon, Sandra M.
Maternal Civic Engagement, Paternal Involvement, and the Effects on Academic Outcomes for Children
M.A. Thesis, Department of Sociology, North Carolina State University, 2011
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Department of Sociology, North Carolina State University
Keyword(s): Child Health; Fathers, Involvement; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Mothers, Behavior; Parental Influences; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Volunteer Work

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

In this project, I investigate how maternal volunteering and paternal involvement, two forms of family social capital, affect children’s academic outcomes. Prior studies show that volunteer work provides important social capital for adults and improves their physical, psychological, and psychosocial well-being. Additionally, both maternal volunteering and paternal involvement have independent additive effects on children’s well-being. Social scientists are concerned that volunteer work has decreased substantially in the last four decades, which may have negative implications for mothers and their children. However, research in this field has yet to study how the interaction of maternal volunteering and paternal involvement affects children’s academic outcomes. For my thesis, I use a sample of children ages 10 to 14 (n=1030) and their mothers (n=850) from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth from 2006. I first examine the effects of maternal volunteering on children’s math and reading scores. Then, I test the interactive effect of maternal volunteering and paternal involvement. Results from OLS regression analyses show that maternal volunteering positively affects children’s math and reading scores. Interaction effects demonstrate that maternal volunteering can boost children’s math and reading scores if there is little or no paternal involvement. If children experience high paternal involvement, the effects of maternal volunteering disappear. I discuss the implications of the results and suggest future research in the field of family social capital and volunteering.
Bibliography Citation
Harmon, Sandra M. Maternal Civic Engagement, Paternal Involvement, and the Effects on Academic Outcomes for Children. M.A. Thesis, Department of Sociology, North Carolina State University, 2011.