Adult education levels barely affect child outcomes once social capital is held constant.

Evidence

In essence, our analysis finds that socioeconomic and demographic characteristics do matter—but so does social capital. Indeed, across the various Kids Count indicators, social capital is second only to poverty in the breadth and depth of its effects on children’s lives. … A state’s racial composition and rate of single-parent families also affect child well-being, though far less consistently or strongly than do poverty and low social capital. In general, the education level of the adult population does not have a significant independent influence on child outcomes, after poverty, social capital, and demographics are taken into account. — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 1045

Categorization

• XREF: Contradicts the intuition that parental education drives child welfare; resonates with the earlier chapter social-capital material on how parental human capital only transmits through social ties. — connects to: Parents low in formal schooling can still provide high social capital for children’s education — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 146; Parental human capital only benefits a child’s development when family relationships activate it. — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 148; Correlated social capital and child outcomes may share hidden confounding causes. — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 1044 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Parents low in formal schooling can still provide high social capital for children’s education #corroborates (0.90) — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 146
• Parental human capital only benefits a child’s development when family relationships activate it. #corroborates (0.85) — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 148
• Parental education only benefits children when strong family relationships transmit it. #corroborates (0.85) — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 148
• Race and poverty affect test scores only through their effect on social capital. #corroborates (0.85) — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 1053
• Correlated social capital and child outcomes may share hidden confounding causes. #qualifies (0.80) — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 1044
• Communal social capital shapes children’s development beyond family resources. #expands (0.75) — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 176