Family income,education and cognitive ability in the next generation: exploring income gradients in education and test scores for current cohorts of youth

Authors

  • Paul Gregg
  • Lindsey Macmillan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14301/llcs.v1i3.95

Keywords:

intergenerational mobility, children, education

Abstract

The relationship between the incomes of the family a child is growing up in and the education level the child obtains has been of great interest to researchers for a number of reasons. Firstly, this gives us a measure of educational inequality in its own right and secondly, because the relationship between family income and education is also one of the key drivers of intergenerational income mobility across time in the UK and gradients in life chances across a range of other domains. This paper explores the evolution of the relationship between family income and education for a group of cohorts from those born in 1958 to those born in 1991/92. The range of educational relationships we can measure depends on the age of the child. For older cohorts, who we observe as finished in education, we can measure the full range of educational outcomes up to degree level and their relationship with family income. For younger cohorts who are in earlier stages of education, we can measure test scores and GCSE results but not later educational outcomes.

Downloads

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 3 (2010): Longitudinal and Life Course Studies

Section

Papers

License

Authors who published with Longitudinal and Life Course Studies Volumes 1–9 agreed to the following terms:

1. Authors retain copyright and grant the Journal right of first publication with the work, simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

2. Following first publication in this Journal, Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal, provided always that no charge is made for its use.

3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g. in institutional repositories or on their own website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.