A new study published in the March/April 2008 issue of the
journal Child Development finds that family wealth might partly
explain differences in test scores in school-age children. The
study, conducted by researchers at New York University, also
found that family wealth is positively associated with parenting
behavior, home environment, and children’s self-esteem. Prior
research has documented the association between children’s
cognitive achievement and the socioeconomic status of their
parents as measured by education level, occupation, and income.
Many of these studies focused on the effect of poverty—defined
by family income—on children’s achievement, but household wealth
(i.e., net worth) has received little attention. This new study
used new methods, including data from a new national study (the
Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its Child Development
Supplement). It explored many functional forms and sources of
wealth, looking at different mediating pathways of wealth from
distinct sources, and analyzi