Study Finds That a Mother’s Level of Education Is Critical to Their Children’s Academic Success

A new study led by researchers at the University of Michigan finds a direct correlation between the educational attainment of the mother and the reading and mathematics success of their children. Educated mothers who had children later in life produced children with even higher levels of academic achievement, according to the study.

The study examined the mother’s education of 14,279 children who entered kindergarten in 1998 and compared the data to the children’s academic test scores in third, fifth, and eighth grades.

Sandra Teng, a research fellow in the psychology department at the University of Michigan and the lead author of the study stated that “these results provide compelling evidence that having a child during adolescence has enduring negative consequences for the achievement of the next generation.”

The study, “Adolescent Pregnancy’s Intergenerational Effects: Does an Adolescent Mother’s Education Have Consequences for Her Children’s Achievement?” was published on the website of the Journal of Research on Adolescence. It may be accessed here.