Cultural and Material Resources of Parents and Grandparents and the Educational Outcome of Grandchildren in Europe

31 Pages Posted: 14 Dec 2016

See all articles by Christian Deindl

Christian Deindl

University of Cologne

Nicole Tieben

University of Tuebingen

Date Written: February 17, 2016

Abstract

Educational attainment depends on parent's material and cultural resources. In many families, the grandparents may also provide resources that directly or indirectly support their children's educational careers. That is why we applied a "multigenerational view" and tested under what conditions the resources of the grandparents are relevant for the educational careers of the grandchildren.

Using life-history data from the third wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement (SHARE) in Europe, we linked the educational outcomes of children with the cultural and material resources of their parents and grandparents. The results show that the impact of grandparental resources is not negligible. Especially when parents lack resources, the resources of the grandparents can be used as insurance and as a substitute for a lack of parental resources. Grandparents also act as an insurance against economic deficits in the country, specifically grandparental resources can compensate for missing public investments in education.

Keywords: education, grandparents, international comparison

JEL Classification: I240, I380

Suggested Citation

Deindl, Christian and Tieben, Nicole, Cultural and Material Resources of Parents and Grandparents and the Educational Outcome of Grandchildren in Europe (February 17, 2016). Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy Discussion Paper No. 01-2016, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2884092 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2884092

Christian Deindl (Contact Author)

University of Cologne ( email )

Albertus-Magnus-Platz
Cologne, 50923
Germany

Nicole Tieben

University of Tuebingen ( email )

Wilhelmstr. 19
72074 Tuebingen, Baden Wuerttemberg 72074
Germany

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