The Effects of Disadvantageous Parental Origins and Early Home Leaving and Early Parenthood on Secondary Education Attainment in Finland

Niko Eskelinen , University of Turku | Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
Johanna Kallio, University of Turku
Timo M. Kauppinen, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

The level of educational attainment is the key component in determining individual’s adulthood social positions. To date, extensive number of studies have indicated that disadvantageous parental origins and parental socio-economic disadvantages, such as parental poverty, unemployment and receipt of social assistance, are related to probability of a child completing secondary school. However, little is known about how the non-material factors, including critical life-course events, such as early home leaving and early transition to parenthood, are associated with educational attainment of a child. We analyse how parental socio-economic disadvantages together with a child’s critical life-course events, early home leaving and transition to early parenthood, are associated with the probability of a child to accomplish secondary education by the age of 30. We use high-quality register-based data from Statistics Finland. Data covers 25 per cent sample of persons born between 1980 – 1986 including information on their biological parents and siblings born in the same period. Data clustered according to families is analyzed with sibling methods using random effect linear probability models. Results show that parental disadvantages, early home leaving and early parenthood are negatively associated with the probability of completing secondary education. With regard to the critical life-course events under examination, our findings suggest that early home leaving is more harmful for men and early parenthood for women. We also conclude that maternal education can act as a protective factor against negative effects of early home leaving and early parenthood. Suggestions for future research and policy relevance are discussed.

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 Presented in Session 114. Life Course influences on Children's Outcomes