Parental education and children’s subjective wellbeing in China: the roles of educational attainment and educational assortative mating

Abstract

Parental education may influence children’s development both additively and multiplicatively. While parental educational attainment enriches financial and cultural investments in children’s development, parental educational homogamy is associated with consistency and agreement in parenting practices that may benefit the children. In this paper, using the 2014 China Education Panel Survey, we examine relationships between parental education, regarding both parental educational attainment and educational assortative mating, and children’s subjective wellbeing, measured by depressive symptoms and self-rated confidence in the future. We also explore the mediating mechanisms linking parental education and children’s subjective wellbeing. Results show that holding average parental years of schooling constant, both hypergamy and hypogamy predict lower levels of confidence and higher levels of depression than does parental homogamy. Children born to hypergamous parents where the mother has less than high school education are most vulnerable of all children. The negative effects of parental hypogamy are likely channelled through parent-child and interparental dynamics, as children from hypogamous families are more likely to experience issues in parent-child relationships, paternal drinking problems, and parental fights.