Family, Gender, and Educational Outcomes in Elementary and Middle School

Thomas A. DiPrete, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Anne McDaniel, Ohio State University

It is now well established that girls typically outperform boys in school and have higher levels of educational attainment. Recent research suggests that the gender gap in educational attainment is related to family resources, in that the attainment gap appears to be smaller in families with more highly educated parents. Using data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of 1979 and 1997 along with data from the ECLS-K, we provide evidence that the gender gap in educational performance at various points in the educational career is smaller in families with more highly educated parents, and that the gender gap in behavior problems -- which has been linked to educational attainment in previous research -- may also be smaller in these families. The presence of a biological father in the household may also be linked to the size of the gender gap in behavior problems in elementary and middle school.