title: Assessing the independent contribution of maternal educational expectations to children's educational attainment in early adulthood: a propensity score matching analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Parental educational expectations have been associated with children's educational attainment in a number of long-term longitudinal studies, but whether this relationship is causal has long been debated. The aims of this prospective study were twofold: 1) test whether low maternal educational expectations contributed to failure to graduate from high school; and 2) compare the results obtained using different strategies for accounting for confounding variables (i.e. multivariate regression and propensity score matching).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study sample included 1,279 participants from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Kindergarten Children. Maternal educational expectations were assessed when the participants were aged 12 years. High school graduation—measuring educational attainment—was determined through the Quebec Ministry of Education when the participants were aged 22-23 years. Findings show that when using the most common statistical approach (i.e. multivariate regressions to adjust for a restricted set of potential confounders) the contribution of low maternal educational expectations to failure to graduate from high school was statistically significant. However, when using propensity score matching, the contribution of maternal expectations was reduced and remained statistically significant only for males.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study are consistent with the possibility that the contribution of parental expectations to educational attainment is overestimated in the available literature. This may be explained by the use of a restricted range of potential confounding variables as well as the dearth of studies using appropriate statistical techniques and study designs in order to minimize confounding. Each of these techniques and designs, including propensity score matching, has its strengths and limitations: A more comprehensive understanding of the causal role of parental expectations will stem from a convergence of findings from studies using different techniques and designs.
authors: Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors: Jean Baptiste
authors: JB
authors: Pingault
authors: Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Maladjustment, University of Montreal and Sainte-Justine Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; International Laboratory for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Development, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Institute of Genetic, Neurobiological and Social Foundations of Child Development, Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russian Federation.
authors: Sylvana M
authors: SM
authors: Côté
authors: Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors: Amélie
authors: A
authors: Petitclerc
authors: Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Maladjustment, University of Montreal and Sainte-Justine Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors: Frank
authors: F
authors: Vitaro
authors: Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Maladjustment, University of Montreal and Sainte-Justine Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; International Laboratory for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Development, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Institute of Genetic, Neurobiological and Social Foundations of Child Development, Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russian Federation; School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Population Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland; Department of Pediatrics, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Departments of Psychiatry, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Departments of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors: Richard E
authors: RE
authors: Tremblay
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D057216:Propensity Score; D011792:Quebec; D012044:Regression Analysis