Children do better at school if parents are sociable

Children whose parents are sociable do better at school, research has found.

Parents’ social lives were compared against children’s attainment at school as part of the research at the University of Sheffield.

Factors such as the number of friends parents had, how often they attended social gatherings and whether they were members of groups such sports clubs and residents’ associations were taken into account.

Children were tested in literacy, numeracy and verbal skills and it was found performed better when their parents were more sociable.

The results were found to be independent of social class.