How Long Is the Shadow? Relationships of Family Background to Adult Outcomes: Results From the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies

• In Event: International Work on PISA

Abstract

PIAAC data is employed to examine the relationships between family background and cognitive skills, educational attainment, and labor market outcomes. These relationships are qualitatively similar across 21 OECD countries but their strengths vary substantially. Parental education is strongly associated with educational attainment and cognitive skills. Family background is strongly associated with the probability of falling in the first (Q1) or fourth (Q4) quartiles of the national income distribution. That relationship is mediated by cognitive skills and educational attainment. Even after for adjusting for other variables, females are much more likely to fall in Q1 and much less likely to fall in Q4. In some countries the relative disadvantage is so great that only a sustained effort will bring gender equity.

Author

• Henry I. Braun, Boston College