Intergenerational Transmission Of Socioeconomic Status Research Articles

Towards a Better Understanding of Inequity and the Psychological Processes Underlying the Intergenerational Transmission of Socioeconomic Status

As poverty in the U.S. is increasing and the income gap continues to rise, addressing disparities in socioeconomic status (SES) has become a national priority. This study employs the Interactionist Model, a well-established theoretical framework for examining the intergenerational transmission of SES. Specifically, using longitudinal data from a sample of 998 adolescents, 47.2% of whom are females, from diverse ethnic backgrounds, we investigated how parents' SES influences both their material and immaterial resources, and subsequently affects their offspring’s SES through inhibitory control during adolescence. Our findings support an indirect effect wherein parental SES influences the SES of the next generation via parental material and immaterial investments. Additionally, we demonstrate that immaterial investments influence the next generation's SES, mediated by inhibitory control. The implications of these findings are further discussed.

Structural Inequities in the Kin Safety Net: Mapping the Three-Generational Network throughout Early Adulthood1.

Research in the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status (SES) consistently shows that the SES of one generation benefits the next. Demographic processes shape the kin structures that serve as conduits for the transmission of SES. Few studies have examined these trends together to describe experiences in evolving kin structures throughout the life course and across generations. This article applies demographic techniques to fertility, marital, and mortality data from three generations in the Panel Survey of Income Dynamics to simulate the amount of time young adults would spend within consequential kin structures. High-SES adults spend more years of their young adulthood in advantageous kin structures with greater potential for kin support and capital accumulation, while low-SES adults spend a larger portion of their young adulthoods as single parents, sandwiched between widowed parents and children, and as adult orphans. The kin network inequities have grown since the 1980s, driven by lagging mortality improvements and increasing single parenthood among low-SES families.

Can school-based physical activity foster social mobility?

Social mobility refers to the intergenerational transmission of socio-economic status, and therefore of health status. Hence, it is important to consider social mobility to tackle the social gradient in health in the long term. Fostering social mobility requires developing public policies that ensure equal opportunities for all children. The intent of this commentary is to illustrate how a proportionate universalism approach to school-based physical activity could be a way to promote equal opportunity for children within the school environment. Alberta's Daily Physical Activity policy and the APPLE Schools program are used to illustrate this approach: these two programs not only create enabling environments that can support children in adopting healthy lifestyles but also contribute to the reduction of social inequalities in physical activity by fostering capacity building.

Intergenerational transmission of socio-economic status: The role of neighborhood effects

IntroductionLittle attention has been paid to the role of neighborhoods as a predictor of intergenerational transmission of socio-economic status. This study uses a nationally representative, longitudinal sample from the United States to examine how neighborhoods impact racial/ethnic disparities in the intergenerational transmission of socio-economic status. MethodsThe study sample is derived from Waves 1 and 4 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. The sample size comprises 13,738 participants (aged 15 at Wave 1; 51% female). Multilevel regression is used to predict racial/ethnic disparities in intergenerational transmission of socio-economic status. Six neighborhood-level indicators are regressed on the indicators of intergenerational transmission of education, income and occupational prestige, while controlling for a range of individual socio-demographic variables. ResultsResults reveal that: (1) African-American and Hispanic children are less likely to surpass their parents’ levels of education, income and occupational prestige than Asian-Pacific Islander and non-Hispanic white children; (2) these racial/ethnic differences in intergenerational transmission of socio-economic status are attenuated but not fully explained by neighborhood-level indicators; (3) all but one of the neighborhood-level factors examined were significant in predicting the pace of intergenerational transmission of socio-economic status. ConclusionsThe implication of these results is that policies aimed at reducing inequalities between residential neighborhoods are likely to beneficially affect all racial/ethnic groups but are not sufficient in reducing racial/ethnic disparities in intergenerational transmission of socio-economic status.

The Intergenerational Transmission of Socioeconomic Status in Stepfamilies: What Happens if Two Fathers Are Involved in the Transmission Process?

Objective: This study examines the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status among people who have a biological father as well as a stepfather. In particular, this study investigates how the relative importance of biological fathers and stepfathers in the transmission process depends on the time in coresidence, postdivorce contact frequency, and parental involvement. Background: The traditional literature on social mobility and stratification has a strong focus on the intact family. Recently, a new strand of literature on the transmission process in divorced families has emerged. However, little is known about the role of contact quantity and quality in the intergenerational transmission process in divorced families. Method: The authors used the newly collected survey Parents and Children in the Netherlands and selected 1,540 respondents from stepfamilies. A structural equation model was used for the analysis. Results: Biological fathers who have more frequent contact with their children after divorce and who are more involved in the school life of their child are more influential in the transmission process. This is also true for more involved stepfathers. In addition, there is evidence that stepfathers are especially important when there is limited contact with the biological father. Conclusion Based on these findings, it could be said that stepfathers “replace” absent biological fathers but the role of stepfathers is relatively small when the biological father stays involved in the life of the child.

Environmental bottlenecks in children’s genetic potential for adult socio-economic attainments: Evidence from a health shock

This paper explores gene–environment interactions—interactions between family environments and children’s genetic predispositions—in determining educational attainment. The central question is whether poor childhood family environments reduce children’s ability to leverage their genetic gifts to achieve high levels of educational attainment—are there important ‘bottlenecks’ for poor children? The multigenerational information and genetic data contained in the United States’ Health and Retirement Study are used to separate two mechanisms for intergenerational transmission of socio-economic status: genetic endowments and family environments. Using parental in utero exposure to the 1918–19 influenza pandemic as a source of quasi-experimental variation in family environments (that did not affect children’s genetic endowments), I estimate interactions between parental investments and children’s genetic potential. The main finding suggests that girls with high genetic potential whose fathers were exposed to influenza face reduced educational attainments—a gene–environment interaction—but there is no similar effect for boys.

Can cigarette taxes during pregnancy mitigate the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status?

Smoking during pregnancy is most prevalent among women with a low socioeconomic status and is negatively associated with important infant health measures such as birth weight. Cigarette taxes decrease smoking among pregnant women and lead to improved birth outcomes, especially among those with a low socioeconomic status. In this paper we investigate whether increasing cigarette taxes also translates into improved educational attainment of offspring from a low socioeconomic background. In order to answer this question, we exploit variation in cigarette taxes across U.S. states over time and analyze tax effects on grade retention and school enrollment among a large sample of adolescents representative of the population. We find that higher cigarette taxes during pregnancy are strongly associated with improved educational outcomes of children from a low socioeconomic background, but seem to have no effect on children from a higher socioeconomic background. Our findings therefore suggest that cigarette taxes can be an effective policy instrument for mitigating the propagation of a low socioeconomic status from one generation to the next.

Environmental Bottlenecks on Children's Genetic Potential for Adult Socioeconomic Attainments: Evidence from a Health Shock

This paper explores gene-environmental interactions between family environments and children’s genetic scores in determining educational attainment. The central question is whether poor childhood family environments reduce the ability for children to leverage their genetic gifts to achieve high levels of educational attainments. The multigenerational information and genetic data contained in the Health and Retirement Study is used to separate two mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status – genetic endowments and family environments. Using parental in utero exposure to the 1918/1919 influenza pandemic as a source of quasi-experimental variation to family environments (but not affecting children’s genetic endowments), this paper estimates interactions between parental investments and children’s genetic potential. The main finding suggests that girls with high genetic potential whose fathers were exposed to influenza face reduced educational attainments – a gene-environment interaction – but there is no similar effect for boys.

Family socioeconomic status, family health, and changes in students' math achievement across high school: A mediational model

In response to recent calls to integrate understandings of socioeconomic disparities in health with understandings of socioeconomic disparities in academic achievement, this study tested a mediational model whereby family socioeconomic status predicted gains in academic achievement across high school through its impact on both student and parent health. Data on over 8000 high school students in the U.S. were obtained from wave 1 (2009–2010) and wave 2 (2012) of the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09), and structural equation modeling with latent difference scores was used to determine the role of family health problems in mediating the well-established link between family SES and gains in academic achievement. Using both static and dynamic indicators of family SES, support was found for this mediational model. Higher family SES in 9th grade reduced the probability of students and their parents experiencing a serious health problem in high school, thereby promoting growth in academic achievement. In addition, parent and student health problems mediated the effect of changes in family SES across high school on math achievement gains. Results emphasize the importance of considering the dynamic nature of SES and that both student and parent health should be considered in understanding SES-related disparities in academic achievement. This relational process provides new mechanisms for understanding the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status and the status attainment process more broadly.

Understanding transmission of fertility across multiple generations – Socialization or socioeconomics?

A number of studies have documented consistent patterns in intergenerational transmission of fertility in contemporary societies. However, why children replicate the family size of their parents has received significantly less attention. The goal of this study is to examine whether observed fertility associations across generations are due in part to an intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status. Swedish registry data on childbearing histories, other demographic events, and socioeconomic traits are used to disentangle possible explanations of intergenerational fertility continuities. Data are collected for the Swedish cohorts born between 1970 and 1982 for whom parents’ and grandparents’ family size can be observed. The inclusion of data on grandparents gives insights into pathways for multigenerational associations, and allows for comparisons between maternal and paternal characteristics that are otherwise hard to separate. Results show that some of the observed intergenerational continuity in fertility can be explained by continuities in education and socioeconomic status, but that most fertility associations remain and are related to other sources, such as transmission of values and preferred family size.

The transmission of longevity across generations: The case of the settler Cape Colony

Evidence on long-term multigenerational dynamics is often inadequate as large datasets with multiple generations remain very uncommon. We posit that genealogical records can offer a valuable alternative. Rather than exploring the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status, we rely on birth and death dates of eighteenth and nineteenth century settlers in South Africa's Cape Colony to estimate the intergenerational transmission of longevity. We find that there is a positive and significant association between parents’ and offspring's life duration, as well as between siblings. Although these correlations persist over time, the coefficients are relatively small. While the effect of grandparents’ longevity on that of grandchildren is insignificant, the cousin correlations suggest that inequality in longevity might persist across more than two generations. We suggest that family and environmental factors shared by cousins, beyond grandparental longevity, can explain these results.

Theoretical models of inequality transmission across multiple generations

Existing theoretical models of intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status have strong implications for the association of outcomes across multiple generations of a family. These models, however, are highly stylized and do not encompass many plausible avenues for transmission across multiple generations. This paper extends existing models to encompass some of these avenues and draws out empirical implications for the multigenerational persistence of socioeconomic status.

Family income and child health in the UK

Recent studies examining the relationship between family income and child health in the UK have produced mixed findings. We re-examine the income gradient in child general health and its evolution with child age in this country, using a very large sample of British children. We find that there is no correlation between income and child general health at ages 0–1, that the gradient emerges around age 2 and is constant from age 2 to age 17. In addition, we show that the gradient remains large and significant when we reduce the endogeneity of income. Furthermore, our results indicate that the gradient in general health reflects a greater prevalence of chronic conditions among low-income children and a greater severity of these conditions. Taken together, these findings suggest that income does matter for child health in the UK and may play a role in the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status.

Childhood Circumstances and the Intergenerational Transmission of Socioeconomic Status

A large literature has documented the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status (SES). However, the mechanisms by which SES transmits across generations are still little understood. This article investigates whether characteristics determined in childhood play an important role in the intergenerational transmission. Using data from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey, I document the extent to which childhood human capital accounts for the intergenerational SES correlation. My results imply that childhood health and nutrition, cognitive and noncognitive abilities, and early schooling account for between one-third and one-half of the relationship between parents' SES and their offspring's SES.

Social Mobility and Demographic Behaviour: Long Term Perspectives

Abstract We introduce a collection of papers that examine interactions between demographic behavior and social mobility via analysis of historical and contemporary longitudinal, individual- and household-level socioeconomic and demographic data. authors originally presented these papers at The International Seminar on Social Mobility and Demographic Behavior: A Long Term Perspective held at the California Center for Population Research at UCLA in December 2009, and organized on behalf of the IUSSP Scientific Panel on Historical Demography. We convened the meeting as a means of promoting the use of historical demographic data to address a topic of contemporary relevance that has been the subject of much attention lately: how the inter-generational transmission of socioeconomic status and socioeconomic differentials in demographic behavior interact to shape patterns of inequality over the long term. papers here focus specifically on relationships among fertility, marriage, migration, and social mobility. 1. Introduction Demographic behavior and social mobility interact. Such interactions occur across and within generations. Across generations, household demographic context and socioeconomic status jointly influence demographic outcomes and socioeconomic attainment chances in adulthood. Within generations, demographic behaviors such as marriage and childbearing affect attainment chances, and socioeconomic status affects demographic outcomes such as marriage, childbearing, and mortality. At the macro-level, socioeconomic differentials in demographic behavior and demographic differentials in socioeconomic attainment interact to shape long-term trends in population composition (Mare and Maralani 2006). Among the relevant processes, demographic influences on socioeconomic attainment and the interactive influence of patterns of demographic and socioeconomic differentials on population composition have received the least attention. influence of family socioeconomic status on the socioeconomic attainment of the next generation is a long-standing preoccupation in the study of social stratification. influence of individual socioeconomic status on various demographic outcomes has been a long-standing interest in demography as well, but interest in the influence of family demographic context on socioeconomic attainment is more recent. Most reflect interest in the implications for attainment chances of recent increases in the diversity of family structures in developed countries (McLanahan and Percheski 2008). Studies of how socioeconomic differentials in demographic behavior and demographic differentials in socioeconomic attainment interact to shape trends in population composition are even more recent (Mare and Maralani 2006). Along these lines, historical demography and historical social mobility as areas of inquiry have, until recently, been largely separate. They intersected only insofar as considering historical studies of the determinants of demographic outcomes such as marriage, reproduction and death included socioeconomic status as an explanatory variable. Thus, we have numerous studies of socioeconomic differentials in mortality and fertility; for example, Bengtsson, Campbell, and Lee (2004) and Tsuya et al. (2010). Historical studies of social mobility have largely focused on inter-generational mobility, especially the influence of parental socioeconomic status. To some extent, this separation reflected the fact that historical databases of the requisite size and detail were, until recently, not widely available. New historical databases offer the prospect of integrating the study of social mobility and demography. Many of the longitudinal household- and individual-level population databases used in recent studies of historical demography are especially well-suited to the investigation of interactions between demographic behavior, social mobility, and population composition. …

Intergenerational transmission of women’s educational attainment in South Korea

Abstract Using a multi-group population projection model, this study examines implications of educational mobility and differential demographic rates on changing women's educational distribution in South Korea. This article focuses on implications of a differential population renewal process on educational mobility, which has not been extensively examined in previous studies of social mobility. My findings suggest, first, that differential demographic rates have no substantial influence on educational distribution, because of substantial educational mobility. Second, that intergenerational association and structural change matter in long run, with stronger intergenerational association and more structural change leading to increases in women's level of education. Finally, that educational mobility and differential fertility are interdependent processes that jointly influence differential population replacement, but fertility gap between education groups would have to be unreasonably large to be influential, due to extraordinarily high educational mobility in South Korea. (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.) 1. Introduction: Demography and social mobility This study examines intergenerational transmission of women's educational attainment in South Korea as a process jointly determined by educational mobility, differential fertility, and differential mortality. Most previous studies on social mobility have focused on intergenerational association in socioeconomic outcomes (e.g., education and occupation) based on existing parent-offspring dyads. Departing from this approach, this study examines implications of differential demographic rates, intergenerational association, and structural change between generations for transmission of socioeconomic status across generations as a whole. First, approach in most previous research has not fully examined how differential reproductive behaviors affect social mobility. Research in social mobility has applied a variety of statistical models, such as path analysis and structural equation models for status attainment process (Blau and Duncan 1967; Hauser, Tsai, and Sewell 1983), log-linear models for intergenerational occupational mobility (Erikson and Goldthorpe 1992; Hout 1984, 1988), and schooling progression-ratio models for educational attainment (Mare 1981; Shavit and Blossfeld 1993). All these models aim at estimating net intergenerational association in socioeconomic outcomes after controlling for potential confounders and change in marginal distributions. Although this approach demonstrates how offspring's socioeconomic outcomes depend on parental socioeconomic status, implications of socioeconomic differentials in demographic behaviors for status transmission have not been widely studied. This is unfortunate, because intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status is intrinsically the process by which a socioeconomically differentiated population reproduces itself (Mare 1997: 265). Such recognition is not new - demographic models for social mobility were developed as early as 1950s. Prais (1955) adopted a stable population theory to study social mobility, showing that occupational distributions approach a stable-equivalent state independent of initial state when mobility rates remain constant over time. Although Prais recognized possible complications due to demographic processes, his model did not take into account differential fertility and mortality (Prais 1955: 80). Matras published a series of papers that incorporated differential demographic processes into social mobility. He applied Prais's model (1955) using empirical data (Matras 1960), incorporated differential fertility by occupation (Matras 1961), and examined effect of fertility timing on population distribution in later periods (Matras 1967). These studies applied a multi-group population projection that assumes constant mobility and differential reproduction rates over a long period of time. …

The impact of intermarriage on ethnic stratification: Jews in Israel

We investigate macro-level implications of ethnic/racial intermarriage in one generation on ethnic/racial inequality in the subsequent generation. In our theoretical model, ethnic intermarriage affects ethnic stratification through intergenerational transmissions of socioeconomic status and ethnicity. The effects of ethnic intermarriage depend on the association between ethnic intermarriage and socioeconomic status in the parents’ generation, as well as the association between ethnic (self-)identification and socioeconomic status in the offspring generation. The model suggests that under plausible scenarios, intermarriage may increase socioeconomic gaps across ethnic groups. Thus, the model's predictions temper those of assimilation and melting pot theories, which suggest that ethnic intermarriage unequivocally reduces ethnic inequality. We then consider a case study of ethnic inequality in educational attainment among Jews in Israel. Using record-linkage data on young, native-born Jewish adults from two Israeli Censuses, we are able to (1) quantify the effects of ethnic intermarriage on ethnic inequality in the offspring generation, via the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status; (2) consider the implications of various forms of ethnic (self-)identification among the offspring of intermarried couples; and (3) examine a period marking the onset of significant numbers of adult offspring of ethnic intermarriage. We investigate educational gaps that might have arisen in counterfactual scenarios in which ethnic intermarriage in the parents’ generation had not occurred. Consistent with the theoretical model, we find that, under plausible assumptions about the ethnic (self-)identification of offspring of intermarried couples, ethnic intermarriage in the parents’ generation substantially increases ethnic inequality among young adults in the offspring generation. In particular, if the offspring of ethnically intermarried couples (self-)identify as a function of their socioeconomic status, or, alternatively, as a distinct ethnic group, then ethnic intermarriage is likely to result in greater inequality in the offspring generation than in counterfactual scenarios in which ethnic intermarriage had not occurred. We thus demonstrate that ethnic intermarriage affects ethnic inequality in ways that are significantly more complex than those suggested by assimilation theories, We conclude that ethnic intermarriage should not necessarily be viewed as a vehicle for reducing group differences over time or for reducing the salience of ethnicity among disadvantaged ethnic groups.

Intergenerational income mobility: The transmission of socio-economic status in Spain

Intergenerational income mobility affects equal opportunity norms and it is very important to analyse the extent to which income status passed from generation to generation. This paper is focused on the study of intergenerational transmission of socio-economic status in Spain using data from the European Community Household Panel. In particular, the relationship between earnings and occupational status of parents and their children are analysed. The evidence obtained suggests that individual income depends on the socio-economic status of their parents. Thus, some reforms, specially school and health policies could modify the equality of opportunity.

Kindergarten oral language skill: A key variable in the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status

In this paper we test whether oral language development during the preschool years helps explain the positive relationship between family socioeconomic status (SES) and children's elementary school performance. In particular, we test for the portion of the SES effect on 2nd to 4th grade reading, 3rd to 4th grade mathematics, and overall teacher-rated performance that is explained by oral language ability measured when kindergarten begins. We analyze a unique data set containing unusually comprehensive measures of kindergarten oral language ability. The data are for white Midwestern children and their families. Estimation via structural equation modeling shows that oral language skill at kindergarten entry explains most of the effect of SES on elementary school performance. Since other studies have shown that elementary school performance strongly determines later educational attainment, much of the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status occurs when the child is very young.

Nature and Nurture in the Intergenerational Transmission of Socioeconomic Status: Evidence from Swedish Children and Their Biological and Rearing Parents

Abstract This study uses an extraordinary Swedish data set to explore the sources of the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status. Merging data from administrative sources and censuses, we investigate the association between sons' and daughters' socioeconomic outcomes and those of their biological and rearing parents. Our analysis focuses on children raised in six different family circumstances: raised by both biological parents, raised by the biological mother without a stepfather, raised by the biological mother with a stepfather, raised by the biological father without a stepmother, raised by the biological father with a stepmother, and raised by two adoptive parents. Relative to the existing literature, the most remarkable feature of our data set is that it contains information on the biological parents even when they are not the rearing parents. We specify a simple additive model of pre-birth (including genetic) and post-birth influences and examine the model's ability to provide a unified account of the intergenerational associations in all six family types. Our results suggest substantial roles for both pre-birth and post-birth factors.