Silke Anger
The Intergenerational Transmission of Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Skills during Adolescence and Young Adulthood
German Institute for Economic Research|Institut für Arbeitsmarkt und Berufsforschung
study examines cognitive noncognitive skills transmission parents children one potential candidate explain intergenerational link socioeconomic status using representative data german socioeconomic panel study contrast impact parental cognitive abilities fluid intelligence crystallized intelligence personality traits big five locus control adolescent young adult childrens traits effects parental background childhood environment age groups intelligence personal traits found transmitted parents children large discrepancies respect age group type skill intergenerational transmission effect found relatively small adolescent children correlations 012 024 whereas parentchild correlation sample adult children 019 027 noncognitive skills 056 cognitive skills thus skill gradient increases age child furthermore skill transmission effects virtually unchanged controlling childhood environment parental education suggesting socioeconomic status family play mediating role intergenerational transmission intelligence personality traits finding noncognitive skills strongly transmitted cognitive skills suggests room external nonparental influences formation personal traits hence promising policy makers focus shaping childrens noncognitive skills promote intergenerational mobility intergenerational correlations cognitive skills germany roughly slightly stronger found previous studies countries different institutional settings intergenerational correlations noncognitive skills revealed germany seem considerably higher ones found us hence skill transmission seem able explain crosscountry differences socioeconomic mobility