Taiwan Education Panel Survey Research Articles

Senior-secondary vocational tracking and socio-economic inequality in student educational performance: evidence from the Taiwan Education Panel Survey

ABSTRACT Engaged in longstanding debates over the impacts of education tracking on educational inequality, this paper aims to examine whether senior-secondary vocational tracking has contributed to socio-economic inequality in student educational performance in Taiwan. Furthermore, this paper goes one step further to compare if there is any difference between education tracks in the level of socio-economic inequality in student performance. Methodologically, ordinary least squares (OLS) multiple regressions, together with bootstrapped Sobel tests, are adopted to study the research questions, based on the data derived from the Taiwan Education Panel Survey (TEPS). This paper finds that vocational tracking could reinforce the influence of family socio-economic backgrounds and contribute to socio-economic inequality in student performance. In addition, compared to the vocational track, family socio-economic backgrounds are found to have larger impacts in determining student performance in the academic track. Such a track difference might be partially explained by the divergent pattern of parenting practices between tracks, including parent discipline and parental investment in private tutoring. To reduce socio-economic inequality in student performance, this paper proposes several policy suggestions that are tailored to the different circumstances of the two education tracks of Taiwan’s senior-secondary education system.

Understanding students’ college choices in Taiwan: an investigation of social-class inequalities in choices of institutional types and college pathways

ABSTRACT After higher education expansion in the private sector and technical college system starting in 1985, students’ opportunities to attend four-year institutions in Taiwan are increasing. This study extends Cabrera and La Nasa’s model of student college choice to examine not only choices of institutional types but choices of college pathways after students attend college. This study uses longitudinal survey data from the Taiwan Education Panel Survey (TEPS) and its follow-ups, the Taiwan Education Panel Survey and Beyond (TEPS-B), which followed a cohort of students from their high school sophomore year to when they were 25–26 years old, and which spanned the time period from 2001–2010. Analysing these data, our findings show that students from a lower socioeconomic background are more likely to attend less selective institutional types, but sometimes at the same time, they pay a higher tuition price – indicating a regressive higher education system in Taiwan. In addition, both analytical ability and educational aspiration influence students in choosing initial institutional types. After entering college, in addition to family background and ability, parental involvement, high school resources, and the type of higher education institution first attended play important roles in shaping students’ college pathways.

Overeducation and skill mismatch of university graduates in Taiwan

AbstractOvereducation and skill mismatch have become crucial issues in the modern labor market. Taiwan's rapid structural transformation under industrialization since 1980 followed by the policy of expanding higher education after 1990 provides an excellent scenario for investigating the issues of overeducation and skill mismatch. Utilizing data from the Taiwan Education Panel Survey (TEPS) and its follow‐up survey (TEPS‐B), this paper develops an empirical strategy to test the effect of overeducation and skill mismatch on wage and job satisfaction for university graduates. As in the literature, Taiwan shows significant wage loss for both overeducation and skill mismatch and the wage penalty is higher for overeducation than for skill mismatch. Results from wage performance and job satisfaction estimations suggest both overeducation and job mismatch caused efficiency loss; however, the high wage loss and lower job dissatisfaction for overeducation imply overeducation may arise because of self‐selection under individual heterogeneity, which is not purely an efficiency loss. Therefore, the policy goal should properly focus on mitigating skill mismatch rather than overeducation.

Family background and curricular tracking among Taiwanese high school students

Prior research studying the relationship between family background and curricular tracking estimates conditional logistic regressions without considering the sample selection, and finds small or non-robust effects. Given that sample selection bias may underestimate of the effects of family background on later schooling, we analyze Taiwan Education Panel Survey (TEPS) and compare models with and without adjusting the selection bias. We find that the effects of family background on curricular tracking become stronger in the Heckman two-stage probit model for selection bias than in the simple logistic regression. These results imply family background may play a more important role in students’ curricular choice than documented in the literature.

Graduates’ career success predicted by mathematical and affective abilities, effective higher-education learning and economic contexts: a bioecological positivity to success model

ABSTRACT This study posits a bioecological positivity to success (BEPS) model and examines how diverse bioecological factors predict graduates’ career success. The BEPS model with an emphasis on hard (e.g. science, technology, engineering and mathematics [STEM]) and soft (e.g. interpersonal and critical thinking) skills generate a hypothetical model: positive aspects of person (mathematical/hard and affective/soft abilities), process (effective hard and soft competencies learning in higher education) and proximal contexts (original family income and present employment status) predict graduates’ career success (job income and perceived extrinsic, intrinsic and autonomy satisfaction) in early adulthood. Gender, studying STEM, and study years are also included as predictors in the path analysis as control. Path analyses examine the model with cohort data from the Taiwan Education Panel Survey (TEPS) and its follow-up (TEPS-B), which are longitudinal studies of a group of young people (n = 2,700) since grade 7 till age 24–25 years old. Results reveal that soft skills and employment play the most significant roles in graduates’ career success. Hard skills play a minor role. Findings support the BEPS model and provide implications for educational practices and policymaking to emphasise on soft skills learning, employability and entrepreneurship education.

Parents or teachers: whose guidance matters more in students’ alignment of educational plan and achievement? A comparative study of Taiwan and Hong Kong

ABSTRACT While existing research has well-recognized educational plan as an important predictor of students’ educational achievement, the alignment of educational plan and achievement should not be taken for granted. As plan-achievement misalignment is liable to negative psychological and social consequences, this study aims to examine the extent to which parents vis-à-vis teachers could guide students into plan-achievement alignment. Specifically, this study is set within two comparable cases of Taiwan and Hong Kong to explore whether the relative importance of parents’ and teachers’ guidance would differ according to the institutional contexts of education systems. Methodologically, society-specific (multinomial) logistic regression analyses are conducted based on the data of the Taiwan Education Panel Survey and the Hong Kong Survey on High School Students’ Aspirations for Higher Education and Employment. In Taiwan, we find students not only received more guidance from parents, but parents’ guidance was also more effective in helping them reach plan-achievement alignment. By contrast, teachers are found to have played a key role in these regards in Hong Kong. The findings provide support to our propositions that the relative importance of parents’ and teachers’ guidance may vary by the opportunity structures of post-secondary education and the level of school-based parental involvement.

Gender differences in effects of father/mother parenting on mathematics achievement growth: a bioecological model of human development

This study aims to investigate gender differences in effective parenting strategies for adolescent mathematics achievement growth, taking into account socioeconomic status (SES), based on a bioecological model. Latent growth curve modeling examines longitudinal data (n = 4163) from the Taiwan Education Panel Survey. The analysis reveals that girls’ performance fits to a quadratic development model; boys’ performance better fits to a linear model. At early adolescence, mothers’ monitoring is the only common effective parenting strategy for both genders. At later adolescence, fathers need to monitor boys but to play a peripheral role (e.g., school participation and rescued discussion)for girls; mothers play direct roles (e.g., listening and persuasion) for boys, but a rational or light-minded role (e.g., discussion and letting-conflict-go) for girls. SES matters mostly in early adolescence. The findings generally support the bioecological model in terms of differential model fit and effective parenting strategies between genders.

Effects of childhood adversity trajectories on mental health outcomes in late adolescence: The buffering role of parenting practices in Taiwan

BackgroundChildhood adversities (CAs) have been linked with unfavorable development; however, the chronic trajectories of multiple CAs and possible heterogeneous effects are understudied. ObjectivesThis study examined the trajectories of multiple CAs and their associations with mental health outcomes in adolescence and investigated the buffering effect of parenting practices. Participants and settingWe used population-representative data from the Taiwan Education Panel Survey (2005 and 2007, n = 10,416). MethodsThis study was based on retrospectively self-reporting of six CAs, namely physical abuse, family economic hardship, parental problematic drinking, parental catastrophic health problems, parental divorce, and parental death, at three developmental periods: early childhood, middle childhood, and early adolescence. Group-based multitrajectory modeling and multiple regressions were used to identify distinct trajectories of multiple CAs and evaluate the association estimates. ResultsA total of four trajectory groups were identified: increasing family economic hardship (12.3 %), chronic physical abuse (3.3 %), chronic parental problematic drinking (2.8 %), and low adversity (81.6 %). The chronic physical abuse group had the highest levels of depressive symptoms (β = 6.61, p < .001) and suicidal ideation (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] = 2.67, p < .001), whereas the chronic parental problematic drinking group had the highest level of substance abuse (AOR = 4.59, p < .001). Positive parental practices buffered the harmful effects of increasing family economic hardship in late adolescence, particularly for depressive symptoms and substance abuse. ConclusionsAdverse mental health outcomes varied among groups with distinct multiple CA trajectories. The provision of social services to train or support positive parenting practices in families experiencing economic hardship is a potentially valuable resilience strategy.

Asymmetry of Non-traditional Gendered Decisions: Gender Beliefs and High School Curriculum Track Decisions in Taiwan

In Taiwan, the persistent sex segregation in high school curriculum track has been documented since 1982. This study focuses on the gender beliefs held by adolescents, their parents, and their math teachers, examining to what degree the egalitarian gender beliefs affect the high school curriculum track decisions in Taiwan by using the Taiwan Education Panel Survey. Results show that when adolescents’ parents hold egalitarian gender beliefs, both girls and boys have higher odds of choosing non-traditional gender paths. However, the adolescents’ own egalitarian gender beliefs only matter for female adolescents, not for male adolescents. This research explores the mechanisms of egalitarian gender beliefs held by multiple socialization agents on non-traditional gendered education decisions. It advocates on the programs that foster egalitarian gender attitudes, which may narrow the sex segregation in high school curriculum tracks.

Weight stigma, coping strategies, and mental health among children with overweight

Introduction: Obesity/overweight (hereafter, overweight indicates both obesity and overweight) is an important health issue that is gaining growing interest worldwide. One health issue for children with overweight is stigma. The aims of this study were (1) to detect the impact of stigma on mental health and (2) to probe the effects of positive and negative coping on the mental health of children with overweight. Methods: The author conducted a secondary data analysis using two waves of data from the Taiwan Education Panel Survey (TEPS): the first wave in 2001 and the second wave in 2003. A group of junior high school students (in the 7th grade in the first wave; n = 2612; nmale = 1171) was used for data analysis. Items in the TEPS were categorized into the following five variables: mental health (nine items), stigma from peers (three items in relationship with peers and four items in bullying experience), stigma from parents (four items), positive coping strategies (six items in increasing social activities and two items in increasing self-study activities), and negative coping strategies (five items). Results: The overweight group experienced more peer stigma than the normal-weight group. Bullying experience, stigma from parents, and self-study activities were significantly correlated to mental health in both groups. The overweight group demonstrated stronger negative relationships between bullying events, negative strategies, and mental health than the normal-weight group; a weaker negative relationship was shown between stigma from parents and mental health. Conclusion: Stigma and negative strategies could endanger mental health among children with overweight.

Adolescent Internet Use, Social Integration, and Depressive Symptoms: Analysis from a Longitudinal Cohort Survey.

To examine the association between adolescent leisure-time Internet use and social integration in the school context and how this association affects later depressive symptoms among adolescents in Taiwan, using a large nationwide cohort study and the latent growth model (LGM) method. Data of 3795 students followed from the year 2001 to 2006 in the Taiwan Education Panel Survey were analyzed. Leisure-time Internet use was defined by the hours per week spent on (1) online chatting and (2) online games. School social integration and depressive symptoms were self-reported. We first used an unconditional LGM to estimate the baseline (intercept) and growth (slope) of Internet use. Next, another LGM conditioned with school social integration and depression was conducted. Approximately 10% of the participants reported engaging in online chatting and/or gaming for more than 20 hours per week. Internet use for online chatting showed an increase over time. School social integration was associated with the baseline amount (coefficient = -0.62, p < 0.001) but not the growth of leisure-time Internet use. The trend of Internet use was positively related to depressive symptoms (coefficient = 0.31, p < 0.05) at Wave 4. School social integration was initially associated with decreased leisure-time Internet use among adolescents. The growth of Internet use with time was not explainable by school social integration but had adverse impacts on depression. Reinforcing adolescents' bonding to school may prevent initial leisure-time Internet use. When advising on adolescent Internet use, health care providers should consider their patients' social networks and mental well-being.

From childhood adversity to problem behaviors: Role of psychological and structural social integration.

Childhood adversity (CA) is associated with problem behaviors in adolescence, but the mediators, that is, those factors that help build resilience and prevent some children who experience CA from engaging in problem behaviors, await more exploration, including social integration. The aim of this study was to identify the association between CA and adolescent problem behaviors, and to further examine the mediating role of social integration distinctly as psychological and structural integration. Data used were from the Taiwan Education Panel Survey, a core panel of 4,261 students (age 13) surveyed in 2001 and followed for three more waves until age 18. For psychological integration, an average score was calculated to represent adolescents' feelings about their school. Structural integration was constructed using several items about adolescents' school and extracurricular activities. We used structural equation modeling with the diagonally weighted least squares method to examine the effect of CA on the primary outcome: adolescent problem behaviors via social integration. The hypothesized structural equation model specifying the path from CA to adolescent problem behavior had good fit. Respondents with one CA were indirectly linked to problem behaviors via psychological but not structural integration (e.g. the level of participation in school and non-school activities). On mediation analysis, psychological integration significantly mediated the paths from one CA to all six problem behaviors (all P < 0.05). The presence of only one CA was indirectly associated with problem behavior via psychological integration; two or more CA were not associated with significant paths to problem behaviors. The contribution of social integration is crucial to an adolescent's development from CA to problem behaviors. To form supportive social relationships to achieve better health, we suggest that those adolescents who have been exposed to CA should be helped to join more teams and take part in more activities, thereby increasing their opportunities for social interaction, and improving their communication skills.

Childhood Adversity and Early Age Sexual Activity in Taiwan: Gender Differences

The experience of childhood family adversity may affect adolescent sexual behavior, yet the variation in the types of adversities is unknown. We analyzed data from the Taiwan Education Panel Survey. In 2007, 18,995 students aged 18 years retrospectively reported the age of first sexual activity and the experiences of childhood adversities. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the association of childhood adversities with the timing of first sexual occurrence. Parental psychopathology and parental death had significant associations with first sex to occur during periods before age 12, ages 12 to 15, and ages 15 to 18. The impact of some types of adversities on sexual behavior started as early as elementary school, but others influenced children’s sexual behavior at a later stage. Parental separation/divorce showed a stronger association with early onset of sex activity for females, that is, sexual debut before age 12.

The Role of Grandparents in Single-Parent Families in Taiwan

Using data from the Taiwan Education Panel Survey, this study explored the role of co-resident grandparents in Taiwan's single-parent families. Single fathers were more likely to settle in multigenerational living arrangements than single mothers. Grandparent co-residence was positively associated with adolescents’ cognitive scores, but the benefit was even larger for youths from single-father families. Grandparent co-residence was correlated with greater parental investment, although in different ways for different types of single families. Single fathers interacted more with the child and had higher educational expectations if living with a grandparent. Single mothers in three-generation families spent more tutorial expense than other single mothers. These results suggest that the grandparent role may be supplementary to weak family functioning.

Social context, parental exogamy and Hakka language retention in Taiwan

ABSTRACTThe Hakka people, the largest ethno-linguistic minority group in Taiwan, have found their ethnic language retention diminishing. Using the data collected by the Taiwan Education Panel Survey and Beyond in 2010, we are the first to study its reason for decrease. Results indicate that out-marriage amongst Hakka people and losing ethnic concentration are the major factors preventing Hakka language retention.

Effects of Student‐Teacher Congruence on Students’ Learning Performance: A Dyadic Approach*

ObjectiveThe concept of person‐environment fit and how it influences performance have received increasing interest in the education field. In this study, a teacher's values orientation represents the environment and, therefore, we employed a dyadic fit relationship approach to examine whether the congruence of student‐teacher values influences students’ learning performance.MethodsThe research data were retrieved from a large database, the Taiwan Education Panel Survey. A dyadic profile similarity index method was conducted to measure student‐teacher congruence.ResultsThe results indicate that (a) students and teachers share a common education values structure; and (b) the values congruence between students and their teachers may influence students’ learning performance.ConclusionsThe research findings imply that similarities in values between students and teachers could affect student learning. However, intrinsic education values fit and extrinsic education values fit seems to function differently in this relationship.

Childhood Adversity, Timing of Puberty and Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: A Longitudinal Study in Taiwan.

Childhood adversity contributes to depressive symptoms in adolescence, but far less research has focused on an Asian context. This study aims to identify the long-term impact of childhood adversity on adolescents' depressive symptoms and whether this association is moderated by gender and early pubertal timing in Taiwan. Data in this study are from the Taiwan Education Panel Survey, a longitudinal study that surveyed and followed 4261 junior high school students in year 2001 (at age 13) and three more waves (at ages 15, 17, and 18). Conditional latent growth model results show that having adversity is positively associated with the intercept, but negatively associated with the linear trend of changes of depressive symptoms in adolescence (p<.01). Early pubertal timing is only positively associated with baseline levels for boys (p<.01). Both adversity and early pubertal timing contributes to depressive symptoms when adolescents start junior high school.

Early Childhood Family Learning Environment's Influence on Adolescent Learning Achievement in Taiwan

THIS STUDY USED FOUR waves of the Taiwan Education Panel Survey (TEPS) for seventh to twelfth grade students to construct a latent growth model (LGM) and carry out a longitudinal analysis, in order to explore the influence of the early childhood family learning environment on later adolescent learning achievement, performance and change. The results showed that adolescents with better performance in early learning had greater growth in later learning achievements. In addition, when preschool children had a good family learning environment, it benefited their cognitive skill development before they entered elementary school, and enhanced their reading interest as well as self-education expectations. This consequence further improved adolescent learning achievements, and these advantaged children had significantly higher learning growth levels later than children without such advantages.

Academic Performance of Only Children Who Monopolize Parental Resources

Resource dilution theory suggests that many parental resources are dilutable and thus are responsible for the negative effect of sibship size on educational outcomes. However, the special case of only children has rarely been investigated. Analyzing Taiwan Education Panel Survey (TEPS), this study finds that only children do not quite fit this pattern. Birth order also complicates the picture. Controlling for family socioeconomic status (SES), the majority of firstborns outperform only children in academic performance; other peers from small-sized families fare just as well as only children in spite of their disadvantage in obtaining parental resources. Several related factors have been controlled (including parents’ old age, poor health, marital discords, marital dissolution, and the child’s developmental problems). As these alternative accounts have been ruled out, lacking sibling interaction is very likely to be the major cause why only children do not fit the pattern of negative sibship size effect, an association predicted by resource dilution theory.

Use of latent growth curve modeling for assessing the effects of summer and after-school learning on adolescent students’ achievement gap

Many Western researchers have found that the gaps in the learning progress between students from different socioeconomic statuses primarily occur due to the accumulated effects of long summer vacations, rather than during the school years. However, it remains to be seen whether these findings can be cross-culturally applied to children in Taiwan. This study conducted four waves of surveys on students in the seventh to 12th grade. The Taiwan Education Panel Survey and latent growth curve modeling were used to conduct a longitudinal study for the exploration of the effect of summer learning and after-school learning on the learning achievement gap between high school students with different family socioeconomic statuses in Taiwan. The research results showed that the higher family socioeconomic status the adolescent students have, the more summer or after-school learning they would participate, and also the higher self-expectations they would have, which would further help them to achieve better learning performance in their adolescence and result in a higher growth rate of learning than their counterparts of low family socioeconomic statuses. Unlike the results of seasonal learning studies in West, students from Taiwanese families with a high socioeconomic status not only receive learning advantages during the summer but are also supported by additional after-school learning, tutoring, and activities during the academic year, which allows them to continue increasing the gap with students of low family socioeconomic status.