The child’s future academic success depends on how well educated the mother is, says a recent U.S. study. The researchers have found this to be more crucial than family and neighborhood income.

The researchers examined data from 2,350 children, ages 3 to 17, and their families in 65 communities in Los Angeles County.

Researchers noted that neighborhood income as a crucial factor for academic success among children between ages 8 and 17, whereas mother’s literacy had the biggest impact on younger kids. Naturally, influences outside the home become more important as children grow older, noted the researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of California, Los Angeles.

The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, was recently published in the journal Demography.

Study co-author Narayan Sastry,of the University of Michigan, said in an NIH news release, that "this analysis gives a chance to isolate the different factors that affect children's achievement," They also noted that measures to encourage mixed-income neighborhoods might help improve early childhood education, and building mothers' reading skills each could have positive effects on children's achievement scores.These could help overcome any disparity, NIH officials believed.