The Disparate Effects of Household Instability on Children's Education

In contrast to evidence that family instability and parental divorce have sizable negative effects on white children’s education, the effects on black children’s education have been shown to be small or even absent. But are black children’s educational careers uniformly immune to family instability? Kristin Perkins’ work published earlier this year shows differences among black children, which means the disparate effects are not just black and white.

Before saying more about Perkins’ research, let me situate it within the Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences' special collection on Disparate Effects of Disruptive Events on Children, where it appeared. The collection sought to make sense of an apparent contradiction—namely, evidence that people with more resources suffer less from life stressors alongside evidence that disadvantaged people suffer less from life stressors. As such, the collection opened with a framework for understanding multiple links between social position and the impact of adversity. Here’s my abbreviated summary:

Using this framework, the relatively small impact of family transitions on black children’s education compared to white children’s education could be understood in terms of:

• protective mechanisms being in place within black communities (e.g., shared child care among neighbors and within extended families, the development of “fictive kin” relationships that impose child care responsibilities), 

• family transitions occurring more often in black families (leading to more psychological preparedness among individuals and less stigma imposed by others), and 

• more blacks than whites not suffering an educational hit from family transitions because their outcomes were already poor (near the floor) before family instability occurred. 

When Perkins tested for differences in the impact of household transitions on children’s education within the black population, she divided black families in her data according to their likelihood of experiencing instability (on the basis of predictive factors like parental education, marital status, employment status, and homeownership). Her analysis found that the black children who were least likely to experience household transitions suffered the most from these transitions: these children were significantly less likely to graduate from high school or college in the wake of family instability. Among other black children in her analysis, family transitions had little effect on education.

We should not overlook the educational repercussions of household instability among those best positioned to take advantage of educational opportunities.

The finding that the impact of household transitions was greatest among the subset of black children least likely to experience such transitions certainly provides support for social normativity explanations. But it neither establishes them nor rules out the other possibilities. While it seems unlikely that blacks who are less prone to experiencing household transitions might be culturally removed from child care sharing norms and other protective mechanisms, it is possible. More plausibly, floor effects could easily be in play as better-educated married parents are not only less likely to experience household transitions, they are also better able to situate their children for high school and college success. Disruption of an advantaged household can interfere with educational milestones that were barely within reach for a disadvantaged household—whether it was stable or not. 

As Perkins explained:

Children least likely to experience household change are generally more advantaged than higher propensity children. And yet a stable family may be what is enabling this group to complete more education. When that resource is compromised, these children may have a much tougher time persisting in education. Children who are moderately and most likely to experience changes in household composition may have other disadvantage or instability in their lives, such that the independent effect of household change involving parents may be less consequential for their longer-term educational outcomes.

With this research, Perkins makes an important contribution even without being able to explain precisely why household instability costs advantaged children more. She nuances the generalization that black children are relatively unaffected by family instability. This is particularly important given the high volume of household transitions in her data. We should not overlook the educational repercussions of household instability among those best positioned to take advantage of educational opportunities.

Laurie DeRose is a senior fellow at the Institute for Family Studies, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Catholic University of America, and Director of Research for the World Family Map Project.