Resources of Grandparents: Educational Outcomes Across Three Generations in Europe and Israel

• Date: 01 June 2017
• Author: Christian Deindl,Nicole Tieben
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12382
• Published date: 01 June 2017

C D University of Cologne and Goethe-University Frankfurt

N T Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen∗

Resources of Grandparents: Educational Outcomes

Across Three Generations in Europe and Israel

Educational attainment depends on parents’

material and cultural resources. In many fam-

ilies, the grandparents also provide resources

that directly or indirectly support their chil-

dren’s educational careers. That is why we

applied a multigenerational view and tested if

and under which conditions the resources of

grandparents are relevant for the educational

outcomes of their grandchildren. Using data

from the fth wave of the Survey of Health,

Ageing and Retirement in Europe (N=27,447),

we examined the association between the edu-

cation of children and the resources of their

grandparents. The results show that the impact

of grandparental resourcesis not generally neg-

ligible and not entirely mediated by the parental

generation. The resources of the grandparents

can be used as a substitute for a lack of parental

resources. In addition, the “grandparent effect”

also differs across countries, indicating that

certain welfare state provisionsseem to enhance

or attenuate the relevance of grandparents’

resources.

Institute of Sociology and Social Psychology, Universityof

Cologne, Greinstr. 2, 50923 Cologne, Germany

(deindl@wiso.uni-koeln.de).

∗Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen, LEAD (Learning,

Educational Achievement and Lifecourse Development)

Graduate School and Research Network, Gartenstraße 29A,

72074 Tuebingen, Germany.

This article was edited by Kelly Raley.

Key Words: education, grandparents, inequality,intergener-

ational.

The importance of grandparents is well known

in the sociology of family relationships and has

recently gained some attention in social strati-

cation research (Bol & Kalmijn, 2016; Chan

& Boliver, 2013; Erola & Moisio, 2007; Hertel

& Groh-Samberg, 2014; Mare, 2011; Modin,

Erikson, & Vågerö, 2013; Møllegaard & Jæger,

2015; Pfeffer, 2014). As a result of the increas-

ing life expectancy in Western societies, an

increasing proportion of children grow up with

living grandparents. Although coresidence is

not particularly common in European countries,

grandparents are likely to live close to their chil-

dren and maintain a close relationship with their

grandchildren (Bengtson & Robertson, 1985;

Geurts, Poortman, Tilburg, & Dykstra, 2009;

Hank & Buber, 2009). This raises the question

if and to what extent grandparents contribute to

the educational outcomes of their grandchildren.

It is well established that social origins (in terms

of socioeconomic status of the parents) have a

strong inuence on the educational outcomes

and socioeconomic destinations of children.

Theories of social reproduction argue that the

socioeconomic background is linked to cultural,

material, and social resources, which can be

used for children’s educational success (e.g.,

Bourdieu, 1971). Recent research has shown,

however, that resources can also be provided

by family members other than the person’s own

parents (Hällsten, 2014; Jæger, 2012) or by

welfares state institutions (van Doorn, Pop, &

Wolbers, 2011). The question if and to what

extent the resources of the grandparents are

relevant for children’s socioeconomic outcomes

Journal of Marriage and Family 79 (June 2017): 769–783 769

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12382