A new study led by researchers from Stanford, Harvard, and the Census Bureau, finds that

White boys who grow up rich are likely to remain that way. Black boys raised at the top, however, are more likely to become poor than to stay wealthy in their own adult households.

The researchers explain that

Gaps persisted even when black and white boys grew up in families with the same income, similar family structures, similar education levels and even similar levels of accumulated wealth.

The study found that the few neighborhood where poor black boys did about as well as poor white boys were

places where many lower-income black children had fathers at home. Poor black boys did well in such places, whether their own fathers were present or not.

An article in the spring 2015 issue of EdNext, “Was Moynihan Right?” looked at research on the impact of fatherlessness on black children.

— Education Next