How parental background affects chances early in life: The transmission of health and educational outcomes

This chapter studies intergenerational mobility in health and educational outcomes. In the first part, the chapter looks at how parents’ socio-economic characteristics influence the health status of their offspring and analyses intergenerational persistence in self-assessed health and health behaviour. It compares the parents’ health status with other determinants of children’s health. In the second part, the chapter considers intergenerational educational mobility. It analyses upward and downward mobility in educational attainment for children compared to their parents, and looks at movements across educational groups depending on parental education. Finally, it assesses the respective roles of parental background, individual attitudes and various school and school policy effects for educational outcomes.