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

esource person; (s)he may also be a person who provokes stress and
antipathy on the part of the youngsters in the family. Stepfathers, stepmothers,
and the stepchildren’s attitudes and reaction towards them vary
considerably. Hence, it is not possible to determine a priori exactly how
school results vary between family types. However, this is a topic worth
analyzing empirically (Lauglo 2008).
Children of immigrant background are in some studies found to
achieve somewhat lower grades than native Norwegians do. In the group of
non-western immigrants, we also find lower educational levels, lower labour
market participation and lower economic status. For example, in the present
project Tormod Øia and others found that immigrants in the low- income
sample have lower income and living standards than low income Norwegians
(Øia et al. 2006). An important question to settle is therefore whether any
differences in school outcomes of native Norwegians and children from
immigrant families can be explained by stronger exposures to risk connected
to parental education and labour market participation.
Numerous empirical studies have shown low educational achievement
among ethnic minorities. For example, Bakken (2008) in his study of
minority students at lower and upper secondary school found that students
with a minority background achieved lower result than those with a nonminority
background.
Another example concerns variation in recruitment to higher education,
where there is clear variation between non-western immigrants and native
Norwegian youth. Yet this variation diminishes when social class is controlled
for (Dæhlen 2001). Moreover, a British study shows that non-western
immigrants are not underrepresented in recruitment to higher education, and
their share (except the Caribbean) has increased since 1990 (Modood 2004).
Lucinda Platt found that first generation migrants with solid cultural capital
face social degradation, but that they reassert their social background in their
second generation, while those with low cultural capital (labour class) remain
in the same social class in their second generation (Platt 2005a).
Children are often assumed to benefit from parental participation in the
labour market. The argument is that labour market participation provides
economic resources and stability. It may also yield access to networks
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