Changes in Income-Based Gaps in Parent Activities With Young Children From 1988 to 2012

Oct 15, 2026

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Examines whether socioeconomic differences in parenting increased from 1988 to 2012 by focusing on income- and education-based gaps in parents’ cognitively stimulating activities with preschool-aged children. Uses data from four national studies spanning 25 years. Finds income-based gaps declining for children’s book ownership and library attendance, but widening for reading, storytelling, and teaching letters, words, and numbers. Out-of-home cultural participation gaps also rise, with similar patterns for education; gaps mainly grow as top-income families pull away.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Background

The Changing Context of Parenting: 1988–2012

AERA Open July-September 2016, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 1–17 DOI: 10. 1177/2332858416653732 © The Author(s) 2016. [http://ero.sagepub.com](http://ero.sagepub.com) Changes in Income-Based Gaps in Parent Activities With Young Children From 1988 to 2012 Ariel Kalil University of Chicago Kathleen M. Ziol-Guest New York University Rebecca M. Ryan Georgetown University Anna J. Markowitz University of Virginia Numerous studies show large differences between economically advantaged and disadvantaged parents in the quality and quantity of their engagement in young children’s development. This “parenting gap” may account for a substantial portion of the gap in children’s early cognitive skills. However, researchers know little about whether the socioeconomic gap in parenting has increased over time. The present study investigates this question, focusing on income-and education-based gapsin parents’engagement in cognitively stimulating activities with preschool-aged children. We draw on data from four national studies conducted over 25 years. We found a decrease in income-based gaps in children’s book ownership and library attendance but increasing income-based gaps for several other parent behaviors, including reading and telling stories to children and teaching children letters, words, and numbers. Income-based gaps in children’s participation in out-of-home cultural activities also increased. Results for education-based gaps were similar. These gaps largely arose from top-income families pulling away from their middle-and low-income counterparts. Keywords: parenting behavior, socioeconomic status, early childhood Economic growth for much of the 20th century supported America’s promise of offering opportunities to parents and their children. It is well known, however, that income inequality increased dramatically in the United States beginning in the 1970s (Atkinson, Piketty, & Saez, 2011) . Duncan and Murnane (2011) present a conceptual model of how increasing family income inequality may affect access to high-quality child care, neighborhoods, schools, and other settings that help build children’s skills and educational attainments. Changes in these social contexts may in turn affect children’s skill acquisition and educational attainments directly as well as indirectly by influencing how schools operate. Growing income inequality also increases the gap in the resources that high-and low-income families can spend on enrichment goods and services for their children (Kornrich & Furstenberg, 2013) . New evidence casts doubt on the idea that rising gaps in children’s skills and attainments can be attributed to rising income gaps alone, however (Duncan, Kalil, & Ziol-Guest, 2013) . In fact, Reardon (2011a) estimates that only about half of the rising income gap in test scores can be attributed to rising income inequality. Parents invest more than money in their children’s development. Through their time and attention, parents can provide a cognitively stimulating and emotionally supportive home environment that promotes children’s early learning and behavioral adjustment. Economically advantaged parents differ from their less advantaged peers on many relevant dimensions of parenting (Bradley, Corwyn, McAdoo, & Garcia Coll, 2001; Guryan, Hurst, & Kearney, 2008; Kalil, Ryan, & Corey, 2012; Waldfogel & Washbrook, 2011) . Less well understood is how these “parenting gaps” may have changed over time. The present article provides new evidence on this important question. Background The Changing Context of Parenting: 1988–2012 A number of demographic changes have occurred over the past three decades that could shape whether and how Creative Commons CC-BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License ([http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/](http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work

FAQs

What parenting activities are analyzed in the study?

The study focuses on income- and education-based gaps in parents’ cognitively stimulating activities with preschool-aged children, including reading, storytelling, and teaching letters, words, and numbers.

How did income-based gaps change between 1988 and 2012?

Income-based gaps decreased for children’s book ownership and library attendance, while increasing for several other parent behaviors such as reading and teaching foundational literacy and numeracy content.

What explains the observed parenting gaps over time?

The results indicate that the gaps largely emerged because top-income families increased their advantage relative to middle- and low-income families.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Cipher