Transformation of family structures and its influence on child learning outcomes in Ghana

Learning poverty has been an issue of concern for policy makers in Sub-Saharan Africa, posing significant challenge to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4. As a solution, the World Bank has devised strategies to ensure that learners are prepared and motivated to study. Scholars have argued that family systems influence child outcomes. In this study, we examined the prediction of Goode (1963) regarding the dominance of nucleation over an extended family system and its implications for child learning outcomes via the sixth and seventh rounds of the Ghana Living Standard Survey data. Our findings indicated that family systems in Ghana have changed towards nuclear family dominance, validating the prediction of Goode. Additionally, via the instrumental variable estimation approach, we found that nucleation increased the learning outcomes of female and rural children, children from farm households and those with educated household heads, and children living with both parents. Moreover, nucleation results in reduced pressure on household income, freeing household expenditure on parents for child education expenditure to increase, thereby improving child learning outcomes.