The Effect of Parental Wealth on Educational Decisions
Final Report Abstract
In this project, we evaluated wealth gaps in children's educational achievement and attainment in Germany. Moreover, we evaluated at which points in the educational system wealth gaps emerge and which processes cause these gaps. We found substantial wealth gaps in educational achievement and attainment in Germany. These wealth gaps emerge net of gaps by parental education, occupation, or income. In other words, inequalities in education are even larger than shown in prior research. Wealth gaps in education emerge early in children's lives and increase with age. Children growing up in wealthy households already show higher achievements than children of less wealthy households before entering school. This wealth gap in achievement grows during primary school but only slightly. Wealthy children are about 20% more likely to transfer to a Gymnasium after primary school and about 40% less likely to transfer to Hauptschule. Track changes during secondary school are rare but wealthy children are more likely to transfer to higher tracks and less likely to downgrade. Making ambitious educational decisions pays off for high SES children because their resources can compensate for a lack of academic preparedness. As a consequence of this, wealthy children are much more likely to obtain an Abitur and are much less likely to leave secondary school without a certificate. Next, wealth gaps increase substantially at the transition after the completion of secondary school. Among the children with lower school leaving certificates, wealthy children are more likely to transfer to apprenticeships and are less likely to only find pre-vocational trainings. Among the children with Abitur, wealthy children are 40% more likely to enroll in university. Moreover, parental wealth determines for how long children stay inactive after graduating from secondary school before starting further education or entering the labor market. Particularly, children in households with very low or negative net worth have the worst educational prospects. In contrast, the differences between children in the middle of the wealth distribution and children at the top of the wealth distribution are less pronounced. About half of the wealth gap in educational attainment can be attributed to the higher competences of wealthy students. The other half can be attributed to wealthy families making more ambitious educational decisions, even when showing similar performance to less wealthy students. The higher competences of wealthy children can be attributed to higher parental investment in learning materials and activities and to the fact that wealthy children grow up in better neighborhoods.
Publications
- (2020). The non-linear relationship between parental wealth and children's post-secondary transitions in Germany. Soziale Welt, 71(3), 268-307
Müller, N., Pforr, K., & Hochman, O.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.5771/0038-6073-2020-3-268) - (2020). Wealth stratification in the early school career in Germany. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 67, 100483
Dräger, J., & Müller, N.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2020.100483) - (2022). Geschwisterunterschiede im Privatschulbesuch und Einkommenseffekte zwischen und innerhalb von Haushalten. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 25, 179-204
Dräger, J., Röhlke, L., & Stefes, T.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11618-021-01059-8) - (2022). Social stratification in secondary school success after ambitious track choices. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility
Dräger, J., Röhlke, L., & Dippel, A.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2022.100710) - (2022). The Multiple Mediators of Early Differences in Academic Abilities by Parental Financial Resources in Germany. Advances in Life Course Research, 52, 100476
Dräger, J., & Pforr, K.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alcr.2022.100476) - (2022). The role of parental wealth in children's educational pathways in Germany. European Sociological Review, 38(1), 18-36
Dräger, J.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcab027) - (2022). Wealth 2D–An alternative approach to explore wealth effects. SocArXiv
Dräger, J., Pforr, K., & Müller, N.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/zk72e)
