Influence of family composition on academic performance

Garcia, Miriã Rodrigues; Tillmann, Eduardo

doi:10.20947/S0102-3098a0300

home Sumário navigate_before Anterior Atual Seguinte navigate_next

home Sumário

ORIGINAL ARTICLE • Rev. bras. estud. popul. 42 • 2025 • https://doi.org/10.20947/S0102-3098a0300 linkcopy

Influence of family composition on academic performance^*

Influência da composição familiar no desempenho acadêmico

Influencia de la composición familiar en el rendimiento académico

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the causal influence of family structure on the academic performance of 5th-grade elementary students in Brazil, while exploring additional factors that could impact this relationship. This is achieved using propensity score matching based on data from the Brazilian Basic Education Assessment System (Saeb) for 2019. The results indicate a significant positive difference in academic performance among students residing in biparental households compared to those living with a single parent. Regardless of contextual backgrounds, the positive impact on academic performance of having both parents remains consistent. An exception is observed when grandparents also live with the students. This highlights potential resource competition and socioeconomic disadvantages often associated with multigenerational households. Therefore, this study underscores the critical role of family composition in shaping school performance, emphasizing the importance of implementing strategies to mitigate the adverse effects of single-parent household structures on learning, given their potential to affect a broad spectrum of future socioeconomic outcomes.

Keywords:
Elementary education; Academic achievement; Single parent households; Biparental households

Variable	Description
Biparental	1 if the student lives in biparental households, otherwise 0
Sesz	Student socioeconomic index, created from the number of bathrooms, bedrooms, computers, televisions, and cars in the student’s household
White	1 if the student declares to be white, otherwise 0
Siblings	1 if the student lives with siblings, otherwise 0
Grandparents	1 if the student lives with grandparents, otherwise 0
Maxschparents	Highest level of education attained by the parents. 0, indicates completion of up to the 5th grade of Elementary School; 1, completion of primary education; 2, completion of high school; 3, completion of higher education
Housework	1 if the student engages in household chores for more than 1 hour, otherwise 0
Work	1 if the student works, otherwise 0
Urban	1 if the student lives in urban zones otherwise 0
adquacy_teachers	School index of adequacy of early grades teachers to their training. It assesses the percentage of teachers in the school who hold a bachelor’s degree in the same subject they teach, or a bachelor’s degree in the same subject with a pedagogical complementation course
Inse	School socioeconomic index. Distributed across seven levels, where 7 is the highest
Preschool	1 if the student attended preschool, otherwise 0
Repeater	1 if the student repeated a school year, otherwise 0
Habstudying	1 if the student has the habit of studying outside of school, otherwise 0
Habreading	1 if the student has the habit of reading, otherwise 0
Incent	1 if the student receives parental incentive with school matters, otherwise 0. Parental school incentive includes discussing school events, encouraging studying, homework completion and school attendance
Mathz	Standardized Math test score
math	Math test score
Portz	Standardized Portuguese test score
port	Portuguese test score

Variables	Observations	Mean	Std. Dev.	Min	Max
Biparental	523,718	0.6876	0.4634	0	1
Sesz	523,718	0	1	-2.9153	2.8006
White	523,718	0.3513	0.4774	0	1
Siblings	523,718	0.7612	0.4264	0	1
Grandparents	523,718	0.2465	0.4309	0	1
Maxschparents	523,718	1.6564	1.1033	0	3
Housework	523,718	0.3414	0.4742	0	1
Work	523,718	0.1287	0.3348	0	1
Urban	523,718	0.8895	0.3134	0	1
adquacy_teachers	523,718	73.6422	22.5597	0	100
Inse	523,718	4.2915	1.0438	1	7
Preschool	523,718	0.7827	0.4124	0	1
Repeater	523,718	0.1539	0.3608	0	1
Habstudying	523,718	0.2663	0.442	0	1
Habreading	523,718	0.4653	0.4988	0	1
Incent	523,718	0.8583	0.3486	0	1
Mathz	523,718	0.3272	0.9711	-2.4312	2.6873
Math	523,718	239.16	46.8783	105.9985	353.09
Portz	523,718	0.3079	0.9705	-2.3455	2.4997
Port	523,718	225.32	48.4797	92.7901	334.808

Disciplines	Number of neighbors	Mean treated	Mean control	ATT	Std. error	T-stat
Mathematics	NN 1	0.4046	0.2452	0.1531	0.0043	37.07
	NN 3	0.4046	0.2454	0.1593	0.0037	42.59
	NN 5	0.4046	0.2450	0.1596	0.0036	43.23
Portuguese	NN 1	0.3784	0.2280	0.1504	0.0043	34.70
	NN 3	0.3784	0.2282	0.1502	0.0037	40.05
	NN 5	0.3784	0.2293	0.1491	0.0036	41.23

Biparental families	Matching
Biparental families	NN 1	NN 3	NN 5
Mathematics	1.3	1.3	1.4
Portuguese	1.2	1.3	1.4

Variables	Treated	Control	ATT	Std. error	T-stat
Parental encouragement
Matemathics - NN 5	0.4293	0.2700	0.1593	0.0039	40.86
Portuguese - NN 5	0.4102	0.2606	0.1496	0.0039	38.19
Study habit
Matemathics - NN 5	0.5059	0.3130	0.1928	0.0073	26.22
Portuguese - NN 5	0.4521	0.2730	0.1791	0.0073	24.49
Reading habit
Matemathics - NN 5	0.4887	0.3324	0.1563	0.0054	29.02
Portuguese - NN 5	0.4893	0.3390	0.1504	0.0053	28.12

Variables	Treated	Control	ATT	Std. error	T-stat
Works
Mathematics - NN 5	0.0724	-0.1136	0.1861	0.0097	19.23
Portuguese - NN 5	-0.0879	-0.2643	0.1764	0.0096	18.36
Household chores
Mathematics - NN 5	0.3654	0.1980	0.1674	0.0062	26.78
Portuguese - NN 5	0.3639	0.2145	0.1493	0.0063	23.78

Variables	Treated	Control	ATT	Std. Error	T-stat
Reside with siblings
Mathematics - NN 5	0.3732	0.2182	0.1551	0.0042	37.30
Portuguese - NN 5	0.3389	0.1956	0.1433	0.0042	34.40
Reside with grandparents
Mathematics - NN 5	0.2149	0.2047	0.0102	0.0060	1.71
Portuguese - NN 5	0.1783	0.1972	-0.0188	0.0061	-3.10
Reside with siblings and grandparents
Mathematics - NN 5	0.1727	0.1501	0.0226	0.0069	3.26
Portuguese - NN 5	0.1298	0.1386	-0.0088	0.0070	-1.26
Reside with siblings, grandparents and more
Mathematics - NN 5	0.0047	0.0518	-0.0471	0.0103	-4.57
Portuguese - NN 5	-0.0626	0.0326	-0.0952	0.0105	-9.07

Parental engagement
Mathematics - Nearest neighbor	1.4
Portuguese - Nearest neighbor	1.4
Study habit
Mathematics - Nearest neighbor	1.5
Portuguese - Nearest neighbor	1.4
Reading habit
Mathematics - Nearest neighbor	1.4
Portuguese - Nearest neighbor	1.4
Works
Mathematics - Nearest neighbor	1.4
Portuguese - Nearest neighbor	1.3
Household chores
Mathematics - Nearest neighbor	1.4
Portuguese - Nearest neighbor	1.3
Reside with siblings
Mathematics - Nearest neighbor	1.3
Portuguese - Nearest neighbor	1.3
Reside with grandparents
Mathematics - Nearest neighbor	1.0
Portuguese - Nearest neighbor	1.0
Reside with siblings and grandparents
Mathematics - Nearest neighbor	1.0
Portuguese - Nearest neighbor	1.0
Reside with siblings, grandparents and others
Mathematics - Nearest neighbor	1.1
Portuguese - Nearest neighbor	1.2

vertical_align_top show_chart

more_horiz close
- image
- translate
- link
- article
- vertical_align_top
- file_download
- show_chart
- image
- translate
- link
- article

location_on

Associação Brasileira de Estudos Populacionais Rua André Cavalcanti, 106, sala 502., CEP 20231-050, Fone: 55 31 3409 7166 - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brazil
E-mail: editor@rebep.org.br

rss_feed Acompanhe os números deste periódico no seu leitor de RSS

[TFN1] Note: Adequacy_teachers and Inse are taken from INEP’s website. For more information see: https://www.gov.br/inep/pt-br/acesso-a-informacao/dados-abertos/indicadores-educacionais/.

Influence of family composition on academic performance*

Influência da composição familiar no desempenho acadêmico

Influencia de la composición familiar en el rendimiento académico

Abstract

Influence of family composition on academic performance^*