Parents' socioeconomic status and children's academic ... - Nova

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2 Hypotheses and possible mechanisms The paper is about the correlation between parental social status and the prospective social status of their children. This section introduces some conceptual issues that can help to explain this correlation. The discussion starts from the premise that even though children in the age group targeted here have lives of their own outside the family, their most immediate point of attachment and origin is still within the family. 2.1 Cultural capital Bourdieu and others argue that households’ economic status is not sufficient to explain disparities in the educational attainment of the offspring. Inherited habits of the household are fundamentally connected to educational attainment. The term ‘cultural capital’ generally refers to people’s knowledge, skills and education level that may influence the status of the individual in the community. This status will be transmitted through generations. In other words, parents provide their offspring with the attitudes and knowledge needed for their educational and occupational success (Bourdieu and Passeron 1990). The concept of cultural capital is widely used among sociologists in particular to explore the association between parents’ education level and their offspring’s educational and occupational choice and attainment. Anders Bakken (2003) summarises the mechanisms that may underlie correlations between parental education, parents’ social position and children’s school achievement: 1. Valuation of education: families of differing social status put different values on education and school outcomes. 2. Children with differing socioeconomic backgrounds have differing access to books and school related input. 3. Teachers may have higher expectations of pupils from families where the parents have a ‘solid educational background’. Higher expectations may induce pupils to make an extra effort and may encourage teachers to take notice of positive achievements. – Parents’ socioeconomic status and children’s academic performance – 11
Regardless of the education level at which such studies are conducted, it is generally agreed that parents’ (mother/father or both) education level has a considerable effect on children’s educational attainment. For example, Anders Bakken found a positive correlation between parents’ socioeconomic status and children’s academic performance at lower and upper secondary school (Bakken 2003), while Lihong Huang found a positive correlation between parents’ education level and children’s motivation and achievement at upper secondary school (Huang 2007). At the university level, Marianne Nordli Hansen found that social origin affects educational success and career choice in Norway. Students of law who grow up in a family steeped in law perform better than students with other academic backgrounds (Hansen 2001a). She explained this in terms of familiarity with law terminology, mastery of the law group culture, and networks in a similar field (Hansen 2001a). Further, Hansen and Mastekaasa (2006), in a longitudinal study, concluded that variation in academic performance at different education levels and fields is affected by the level of cultural capital. For example, students who originated in a farm household show the lowest educational attainment while those who originated in an academic household perform best (Hansen and Mastekaasa 2006). Furthermore, studies show that social class origin has effect on access to the labour market (Munk 2000; Hansen 2001a); trust in financial institutions (Fekjær 2000a); financial rewards for people with the same education level and field (Hansen 2001 b), and attainment of elite positions 2 particularly, for people without university degrees (Mastekaasa 2004). Family composition can also affect school outcomes. Such effects can work through many different channels. Adults, brothers, sisters, and other children in the family can function as resources that contribute positively into the schoolwork. On the other hand, family life can be too crowded, leaving less than desirable scope and peace for schoolwork. The ambiguity of these influences is illustrated by the following example. Consider a singleparent family: if a second adult arrives in the family (s)he may be a further 2 Formal positions in important organizations such as the business sector and central and local governmental administration. 12 – NOVA Notat 7/2009 –
Page 1 and 2: Parents’ socioeconomic status and
Page 3 and 4: NOVA - Norwegian Social Research is
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Page 9 and 10: Parents’ cultural background affe
Page 11: has a propensity to pass from one g
Page 15 and 16: valuable to the whole family and pr
Page 17 and 18: ich countries). Absolute poverty is
Page 19 and 20: opportunities; and ‘a person’s
Page 21 and 22: The sample is gender balanced. The
Page 23 and 24: etween the proportion of concordant
Page 25 and 26: grades in the three central subject
Page 27 and 28: Figure 1: Total by case sample and
Page 29 and 30: Figure 2: Parents' education levels
Page 31 and 32: Table 5 summarizes the results, and
Page 33 and 34: Descriptive statistic of parental e
Page 35 and 36: Table 7: Children’s academic achi
Page 37 and 38: Figure 5: Children’s cultural bac
Page 39 and 40: 2004). Yet it differs in so far as
Page 41 and 42: Table 10 shows a strong association
Page 43 and 44: 4.1.4 Pupils’ achievement and fam
Page 45 and 46: ‘SECONDARY’ (N=186) is 1 if the
Page 47 and 48: Figure 10: Pupils’ average result
Page 49 and 50: 5 Do pupils get assistance with hom
Page 51 and 52: 5.2. Domestic assistance by parents
Page 53 and 54: Figure 17: Pupils’ achievement by
Page 55 and 56: children have no-one to turn to for
Page 57 and 58: Fløtten, T., E. Dahl, and A. Grøn
Page 59 and 60: Sandbæk, M. and C. K. Sture (2003)
Page 61: kulturell bakgrunn viste positive s

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