Primarily using data from the 2010 European Social Survey, we analyze intergenerational educational persistence in 20 European countries, studying cross-country and cross-cluster differences in intergenerational mobility; the role of gender in determining educational persistence across generations; and changes in the degree of intergenerational persistence over time. We find that persistence is highest in the Southern and Eastern European countries, and lowest in the Nordic countries. While intergenerational persistence in the Nordic and Southern countries has declined over time, it has remained relatively steady in the rest of Europe. Further, we find evidence of differences in intergenerational persistence by gender, with mothers' education being a stronger determinant of daughters' (instead of sons') education and fathers' education a stronger determinant of the education of their sons. Finally we see that for most clusters differences over time are largely driven by increasing mobility for younger women. (authors' abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

This paper proposes a method to study the relationship between voters' attitudes towards immigration and the educational attainment of immigrants and their children, and applies it to Austrian data. We measure attitudes towards immigration using data on political parties' positions regarding immigration and the share of votes that each party received at the regional level. We then study the educational attainment and intergenerational educational mobility of immigrants who grew up in the regions whose political environment we observe. Preliminary results for Austria suggest that, surprisingly, better attitudes towards migration are associated with lower educational attainment for immigrants. However, immigrants are more likely than their native peers to obtain more education than their parents. Here, the returns to more positive attitudes towards immigration play a large role in explaining the mobility gap across migration background. / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Thesis advisor: Jacqueline Lerner / Americans are more educated than ever, and high educational attainment has long been associated with positive outcomes for individuals and society as a whole. However, one-third of high school students do not enroll in post-secondary education immediately after graduation, thereby reducing potential benefits. A thorough understanding of college enrollment patterns is needed to develop and enhance interventions that will effectively promote immediate college enrollment. Extant literature on college access focuses largely on contextual factors that influence college enrollment, such as families, schools, and classrooms. Given that context is only one component of development, additional research on the role of the individual may be especially useful for understanding more fully the transition from high school to college. For this dissertation, theoretical approaches from higher education and developmental psychology were combined to provide a new framework for exploring immediate college enrollment. The variables of interest included indicators of college readiness (e.g., academic preparedness and sources of college information) and three internal assets: self-regulation, school engagement, and expectations for academic success. College enrollment patterns were examined using data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, which surveyed students nationwide in 2002 (Grade 10), 2004 (Grade 12), 2006, and 2012. A series of multinomial regression equations revealed significant main effects and indirect effects of internal assets on college enrollment through college readiness variables, but no interaction effects between internal assets and college readiness variables. Analyses also provided support for previous findings related to racial/ethnic and socio-economic group differences, as well as school-level contextual factors. The findings from this study have valuable implications for college access programs: internal assets appear to be driving college readiness, not merely bolstering it, and should be a focus for interventional efforts. Additional research across applied settings for youth is needed to replicate and extend the findings from the current study, to evaluate applicable measurement standards, and to propose reform in practice and policy. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Despite the burgeoning literature documenting the effects of breast-feeding on cognition and educational attainment over the past several decades, there remains important gaps in our knowledge regarding whether this relationship is dictated by sociodemographic factors. The current investigations, which examined the literature on the effects of breast-feeding on cognition and educational attainment in children, adolescents, and older adults addressed these gaps. Chapter 2 was an up-to-date global systematic review of population studies in individuals ≤ 25 years and ≥ 25 years of age. Results indicate that the majority of published studies conducted by researchers demonstrated a positive relationship between the effect of breast-feeding on cognitive outcomes and educational attainment. Additionally, findings highlighted the importance of possible confounders and how adjusting for them can change the relationship between breast-feeding and cognition and educational attainment. Chapter 3 investigated the breast-feeding-cognition/educational attainment relationship across race, as well as whether mother-child stimulation might mediate this relationship. The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) was used to examine the effect of being breast-fed or not, and duration on cognitive outcomes and grade point average (GPA). Results indicate that individuals who were breast-fed had slightly higher GPAs and performance on both a vocabulary test and a number recall test compared to adolescents who were not breast-fed. There was an effect for race, but no interaction between race and breast-feeding. Mother-child stimulation had a limited effect on the relationship between breast-feeding and cognitive outcomes and GPA. Chapter 4 explored whether the effect observed in adolescence persists into older adulthood. The Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) Cohort was used to examine this relationship in adults age ≥ 45 years. The covariates included sex of adolescent, race (Black or White), maternal education, paternal education, maternal smoking history, number of other children mother has, resident location (urban/not-urban), and a financial adversity index. This was a composite score consisting of yes or no responses to (1) do you have health insurance, (2) have you been employed within the past 12 months, (3) are you on public assistance, and (4) do you have enough money to pay your bills? Results show that self-report history of being breast-fed did not current predict performance on cognitive tests. Additionally, neither race nor sex moderated this relationship between breast-feeding and cognition. Overall, evidence from the review and two studies highlight the important of assessing the effect of breast-feeding on cognition and educational attainment in populations with varying confounding factors, however, while some of the results are inconsistent with our hypothesis, replication is clearly essential to further explore the possible underlying mechanism.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, University of the Witwatersrand. Johannesburg, 22 August 2017. / Attainment in problem solving in mathematics is one of the cognitive levels that is used to guide the assessments in South Africa. Unfortunately, it is one of the levels in which most students do not perform well. This research investigates whether the approach taken in an intervention focused on discussing problem solving shows potential for improving individual learning outcomes? A pre-test and post-test on problem solving questions was administered to two Grade 8 classes from a private school in a Northern suburb of Johannesburg. The intervention 1 class wrote a pre-test and thereafter the class was taught how to deal with mathematical problems and later the class wrote a post-test. The intervention 2 class only wrote the pre-test and the post-test, with the usual kind of teaching. Not only did the intervention 1 class average improve by 10% from 38% on the pre-test to 48% on the post-test but also the class improved in terms of using models to solve problems. On the other hand, the intervention 2 class improved by 14% from 24% to 38%. However, while the intervention 2 class had an improvement in terms of using models to solve problems, the improvement was not substantial. The results also show that mathematical problem solving involving ratios remain a challenge for the grade 8 students in my school and that more work needs to be done to ensure success in mathematical problems involving ratios. Keywords: Problem-solving; intervention 2 class; intervention 1 class, cognitive levels / LG2018

Approximately 30 million graduate students enrolled in programs in Fall 2016 (National Center for Educational Statistics, NCES, 2017). Based on current trends this number is expected to continue to rise due to many reasons (NCES, 2017). Simultaneously, the supply of postsecondary graduates continues to rise to meet the labor demand. Furthermore, employment in the U.S. has drastically shifted from a manufacturing economy to a service and technology economy, both of which call for postsecondary education. Parents influence the future of their children’s lives. Parents’ involvement in their child’s education often reflects their expectations. Although, much of the parent expectation research pertains to parent-child relationships this research may also contextual the parent-adult child/ parent-graduate student relationship. What is less clear is an understanding of why graduate students are up to the challenge of pursuing a postsecondary education (i.e. graduate school). It would be helpful to know if parental influence can also help children to continue their education into graduate studies. Thus, providing the supply of highly educated professionals in the workplace that will meet our economy’s demand. Therefore, the purpose of this practitioner research study (using qualitative methods) was to explore the meaning of the relationship between parent expectations and graduate student educational attainment with graduate students at a research-intensive university in the U.S. Undergirded by the Family Systems Theory (Broderick, 1993) and Self-Efficacy Theory (Bandura, 1997), I conducted a small pilot focus group which fits the nature of my research objective. Participants included (N = 1; 2 African Americans, 1 European American; 100% female; age range 26-29 years old) 2nd year graduate students enrolled in a Marriage and Family Therapy doctoral program at a Southeastern university in the U.S. The data collection site was my university office because the layout worked well for group discussion and required key access. Data collection instruments included informed consent, basic information survey, and a focus group interview guide. An example question from the interview guided included, “How did you come to understand your parent expectations?”. Participants were solicited using purposive sampling via. Data instruments and confidentiality were reviewed before audio-recording. The 30-minute pilot focus group interview was recorded on a protected device. I utilized Microsoft Word and a play-back device for transcription (see Figure 1). Using a phenomenological and thematic approach to code the interview, codes were compared back to my research purpose to ensure a recursive data reduction process. Member checks improved study validity. I found three main themes and two sub-themes (see Figure 2). Themes included: 1) Parent used direct communication, 2) Parent used indirect communication, 3) Parent used blend of communication, s1) Communication can be verbal or non-verbal, and s2) Graduate students interpreted their experience. Overall, findings provide insight into the meaning-making process that graduate students use to understand their parents’ expectations. Implications include far-reaching impact parent expectations have on influencing their children to pursue postsecondary education. Family researchers and educators should remind parents they are vital in shaping the future of their children’s academic future and the families of tomorrow.

Low public acceptance of evolution among Americans in general, and conservative Protestants specifically, has recently received increased attention among scholars of both religion and the public understanding of science. At the same time, members of another major religious tradition, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), reject evolution at rates similar to evangelical Christians, yet there remains a dearth of studies examining the lack of acceptance of evolution among Mormons. Using a nationally representative survey of Americans that contains an adequate number of LDS respondents for advanced statistical analyses, this study examines patterns of evolution acceptance or rejection among Mormons. Findings reveal a moderating relationship between political identity and education, such that educational attainment has a positive relationship with evolution acceptance among political moderates and liberals, but a negative association among political conservatives. These findings highlight the central role played by the politicization of evolution in low rates of evolution acceptance among American Mormons and emphasize the need to—where possible—examine relations between ‘science and religion’ within and across specific religious traditions.

By operationalizing Gordon's definition of structural assimilation, I examine occupational prestige, income, and educational attainment across four immigrant groups: 1.5 generation, 2nd generation, 3rd generation, and 4th generation. Additionally, I analyze the effect of religious affiliation, frequency of attendance, religious conversion, context of reception, and selective acculturation on each of the three measures of structural assimilation. Ethnic origin, gender, and age are implemented as control variables. Results provide evidence that religion does affect measures of structural assimilation. While impacts on occupational prestige and income seem minimal to non-existent, the effect of religion on educational attainment is more substantial. Religion indirectly affects occupational prestige and income outcomes due to their strong relationship to educational attainment.

The U.S. military has downsized since the early 2000s and has plans to continue to decrease their forces. There are negative implications many veterans experience after discharge. Using the transition theory as the framework for this study, the purpose of this between-groups study was to explore the differences in life satisfaction scores between voluntarily- and involuntarily-discharged U.S. service members and the associations between educational attainment, social support, and length of service. The participants were honorable discharged U.S. service members. A total of 182 participants were included in this study; 141 were voluntarily discharged and 41 were involuntarily discharged. The participants were recruited through Walden's participant pool, flyers, and Facebook. The Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and a demographic questionnaire were used to identify participants' life satisfaction scores, amount of perceived social support, and personal information. Based on the results of t tests and hierarchical linear regressions, there were no differences in life satisfaction scores between voluntarily and involuntarily discharged service members. Social support and educational attainment were statistically significant predictors of life satisfaction for discharged service members. The positive social change implications of this study include increasing mental health workers' awareness of U.S. service members and the factors that affect life satisfaction after discharge.

The objective of this dissertation is to investigate the effect of sibling structure on women's and men's socialization and achievement outcomes in three areas: housework performance, education, and occupation. Data from China and the United States are used for analyses. The findings indicate that the effect of sibling structure largely depends on the cultural and structural contexts in each society. More specifically, although women and men on average have the same sibling structure, the meaning of sibling configuration is different for women and men because of macro-level factors, such as cultural expectations, gender stereotypes, historical legacy, and political propaganda, and micro-level factors, such as parental preferences, parent-child communication and sibling competition. To examine the effect of sibling structure on each outcome, I conduct three empirical studies. In the first study, using data from the 2006 wave of the China Health and Nutrition Survey, I investigate the effect of sibling structure on children's housework performance. The results show that sibship size, sex composition, and birth order are important predictors of children's housework performance in China. On average, children's probability of doing housework increases as number of siblings increases and singletons are least likely to do housework. In two-child families, for girls, a brother increases the likelihood of doing housework, whereas a sister has no impact. For boys, the presence of a younger brother increases the likelihood of performing housework, whereas a sister and an older brother have no impact. In the second study, I focus on the effect of sibling structure on educational attainment and the role of siblings' education in this relationship. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) are used for analyses. I find that the effects of sibship size and sibling sex composition on educational attainment are mediated through siblings' educational achievements. These effects are divergent for men and women. For women, sibship size and sex composition do not impact their educational attainment after accounting for siblings' educations. For men, only the number of brothers (but not sisters) has a negative effect on their educational attainment after controlling for siblings' educational achievements. In the third study, I investigate the influence of birth order on the prestige and sex type of adolescents' occupational aspirations using the first wave of the NLSY79. The results indicate that for both females and males, firstborn and lastborn adolescents on average expect higher prestige occupations compared to middleborns, and lastborns are more likely to have nontraditional occupational aspirations than firstborns and middleborns. Taken together, the results suggest that the gender gap in important child and adult behavioral outcomes is smaller among individuals with fewer siblings, fewer brothers, and among lastborn young adults.