IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jopoec/v36y2023i4d10.1007_s00148-023-00950-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Troubled in school: does maternal involvement matter for adolescents?

Author

Listed:
  • Jonathan Norris

    (The University of Strathclyde)

  • Martijn van Hasselt

    (The University of North Carolina at Greensboro)

Abstract

We estimate the causal effect of mother’s involvement on the amount of trouble an adolescent experiences in school based on a sample of high school students in the USA. Our measure of mother’s involvement encompasses discussing school-related matters and providing help with school projects. We use multiple measures of trouble in school to construct a composite that we link to noncognitive skills. Using an instrumental variable based on a suitably chosen peer group, our main finding is that an increase in maternal involvement leads to a significant decrease in adolescents’ trouble in school. This result is robust across a large number of sensitivity tests aimed at detecting selection effects, shocks at the peer group level, and further potential violations of the exclusion restriction. Additionally, we present evidence suggesting adolescents’ college aspirations, mental health and the perception of parental warmth as potential channels through which the mother’s involvement effect operates.

Suggested Citation

  • Jonathan Norris & Martijn van Hasselt, 2023. "Troubled in school: does maternal involvement matter for adolescents?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(4), pages 2655-2689, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:36:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s00148-023-00950-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-023-00950-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00148-023-00950-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00148-023-00950-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    School trouble; Noncognitive skills; Maternal involvement; Instrumental variables;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C26 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Instrumental Variables (IV) Estimation
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:36:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s00148-023-00950-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.