Top

Published in:

17-03-2023 | Original Contribution

Childhood behavioral problems are associated with the intergenerational transmission of low education: a 16-year population-based study

Authors: Adam Vanzella-Yang, Francis Vergunst, Pascale Domond, Frank Vitaro, Richard E. Tremblay, Vincent Bégin, Sylvana Côté

Published in: European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry | Issue 2/2024

Abstract

The intergenerational transmission of low educational attainment is well-documented, but little is known about how behavioral problems in childhood explain this association. Drawing upon a population-based cohort study (n = 3020) linked to administrative records, we investigated the extent to which inattentive, internalizing, externalizing, and prosocial behaviors at child ages 6–8 years accounted for associations between parental education and child’s risk of failing to graduate from high school. We adjusted for economic, demographic, cognitive, and perinatal factors, as well as parental mental health. Using logistic regressions and the Karlson-Holm-Breen decomposition method, we found that childhood behaviors together explained 19.5% of the association between mother’s education and child’s high school graduation status at age 22/23, and 13.7% of the association between father’s education and this same outcome. Inattentive behaviors were most strongly associated with failure to graduate from high school, while the role of other behaviors was modest or negligible. Inattentive behaviors may represent a mediational pathway between parental education and child education. Early interventions targeting inattentive behaviors could potentially enhance the prospects of intergenerational educational mobility.

Available only for authorised users

In accordance with Statistics Canada’s policy for using data linked to income records, displayed counts were rounded to base 10.

Official statistics show that low rates of high school graduation continue to be a problem in Québec. According to a 2018 report from the Institut du Québec, only 64% of students in the province’s public education system (71% of girls and 57% of boys) completed high school in a timely manner. These rates remained relatively stable throughout the 2010s [64].

Lareau A (2011) Unequal childhoods: class, race and family life. University of California Press, BerkeleyCrossRef

Calarco JM (2014) Coached for the classroom: parents’ cultural transmission and children’s reproduction of educational inequalities. Am Sociol Rev 79:1015–1037. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122414546931CrossRef

Milne E, Aurini J (2015) Schools, cultural mobility and social reproduction: the case of progressive discipline. Can J Sociol 40:51–74

Calarco JM (2011) “I need help!” social class and children’s help-seeking in elementary school. Am Sociol Rev 76:862–882. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122411427177CrossRef

Devine F (2004) Class practices: how parents help their children get good jobs. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511488771CrossRef

Corak M, Piraino P (2011) The intergenerational transmission of employers. J Labor Econ 29:37–68. https://doi.org/10.1086/656371CrossRef

Nyhus EK, Pons E (2005) The effects of personality on earnings. J Econ Psychol 26:363–384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2004.07.001CrossRef

Nicolaou N, Shane S (2010) Entrepreneurship and occupational choice: Genetic and environmental influences. J Econ Behav Organ 76:3–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2010.02.009CrossRef

Holtmann AC, Menze L, Solga H (2021) intergenerational transmission of educational attainment: how important are children’s personality characteristics? Am Behav Sci 65:1531–1554. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764221996779CrossRef

10.

Smith-Woolley E, Selzam S, Plomin R (2019) Polygenic score for educational attainment captures DNA variants shared between personality traits and educational achievement. J Pers Soc Psychol 117:1145–1163. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000241CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

11.

Chin T, Phillips M (2004) Social reproduction and child-rearing practices: social class, children’s agency, and the summer activity gap. Sociol Educ 77:185–210. https://doi.org/10.1177/003804070407700301CrossRef

12.

Corak M (2013) Income inequality, equality of opportunity, and intergenerational mobility. J Econ Perspect 27:79–102. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.27.3.79CrossRef

13.

Goldthorpe JH (1996) Class analysis and the reorientation of class theory: the case of persisting differentials in educational attainment. Br J Sociol 47:481–505. https://doi.org/10.2307/591365CrossRef

14.

Reiss F (2013) Socioeconomic inequalities and mental health problems in children and adolescents: a systematic review. Soc Sci Med 90:24–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.04.026CrossRefPubMed

15.

Vergunst F, Tremblay RE, Vitaro F et al (2021) Behaviors in kindergarten are associated with trajectories of long-term welfare receipt: a 30-year population-based study. Dev Psychopathol. https://doi.org/10.1017/S095457942100047XCrossRefPubMed

16.

Vergunst F, Tremblay RE, Nagin D et al (2019) Association between childhood behaviors and adult employment earnings in Canada. JAMA Psychiat 76:1044–1051. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.1326CrossRef

17.

Breslau N, Breslau J, Peterson E et al (2010) Change in teachers’ ratings of attention problems and subsequent change in academic achievement: a prospective analysis. Psychol Med 40:159–166. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291709005960CrossRefPubMed

18.

Rabiner DL, Godwin J, Dodge KA (2016) Predicting academic achievement and attainment: the contribution of early academic skills, attention difficulties, and social competence. School Psych Rev 45:250–267. https://doi.org/10.17105/SPR45-2.250-267CrossRef

19.

Pingault J-B, Tremblay RE, Vitaro F et al (2011) Childhood trajectories of inattention and hyperactivity and prediction of educational attainment in early adulthood: a 16-year longitudinal population-based study. Am J Psychiatry 168:1164–1170. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2011.10121732CrossRefPubMed

20.

Pingault J-B, Côté SM, Vitaro F et al (2014) The developmental course of childhood inattention symptoms uniquely predicts educational attainment: a 16-year longitudinal study. Psychiatry Res 219:707–709. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2014.06.022CrossRefPubMed

21.

Galéra C, Bouvard M-P, Lagarde E et al (2012) Childhood attention problems and socioeconomic status in adulthood: 18-year follow-up. Br J Psychiatry 201:20–25. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.111.102491CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

22.

McLeod JD, Kaiser K (2004) Childhood emotional and behavioral problems and educational attainment. Am Sociol Rev 69:636–658. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240406900502CrossRef

23.

McLeod JD, Fettes DL (2007) Trajectories of failure: the educational careers of children with mental health problems. Am J Sociol 113:653–701. https://doi.org/10.1086/521849CrossRef

24.

Evensen M, Lyngstad TH, Melkevik O et al (2016) The role of internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescence for adult educational attainment: evidence from sibling comparisons using data from the young hunt study. Eur Sociol Rev 32:552–566. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcw001CrossRef

25.

Melkevik O, Nilsen W, Evensen M et al (2016) Internalizing disorders as risk factors for early school leaving: a systematic review. Adolesc Res Rev 1:245–255. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-016-0024-1CrossRef

26.

Doering S, Lichtenstein P, Gillberg C et al (2021) Internalizing and neurodevelopmental problems in young people: educational outcomes in a large population-based cohort of twins. Psychiatry Res 298:113794. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2021.113794CrossRefPubMed

27.

Algan Y, Beasley E, Côté S et al (2022) The impact of childhood social skills and self-control training on economic and noneconomic outcomes: evidence from a randomized experiment using administrative data. Am Econ Rev 112:2553–2579. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20200224CrossRef

28.

Chetty R, Friedman JN, Hilger N et al (2011) How does your kindergarten classroom affect your earnings? Evidence from project star *. Q J Econ 126:1593–1660. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjr041CrossRefPubMed

29.

Heckman J, Pinto R, Savelyev P (2013) Understanding the mechanisms through which an influential early childhood program boosted adult outcomes. Am Econ Rev 103:2052–2086. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.103.6.2052CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

30.

Turner RJ, Wheaton B, Lloyd DA (1995) The epidemiology of social stress. Am Sociol Rev 60:104–125. https://doi.org/10.2307/2096348CrossRef

31.

Bøe T, Øverland S, Lundervold AJ et al (2012) Socioeconomic status and children’s mental health: results from the Bergen child study. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 47:1557–1566. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-011-0462-9CrossRefPubMed

32.

Guhn M, Emerson SD, Mahdaviani D et al (2020) Associations of birth factors and socio-economic status with indicators of early emotional development and mental health in childhood: a population-based linkage study. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 51:80–93. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-019-00912-6CrossRefPubMed

33.

Vergunst F, Tremblay RE, Galera C et al (2019) Multi-rater developmental trajectories of hyperactivity–impulsivity and inattention symptoms from 1.5 to 17 years: a population-based birth cohort study. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 28:973–83. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-018-1258-1CrossRefPubMed

34.

Hosokawa R, Katsura T (2018) Effect of socioeconomic status on behavioral problems from preschool to early elementary school—a Japanese longitudinal study. PLoS One 13:e0197961. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197961CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

35.

Lansford JE, Malone PS, Tapanya S et al (2018) Household income predicts trajectories of child internalizing and externalizing behavior in high-, middle-, and low-income countries. Int J Behav Dev 43:74–79. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025418783272CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

36.

Kosse F, Deckers T, Pinger P et al (2019) The formation of prosociality: causal evidence on the role of social environment. J Polit Econ 128:434–467. https://doi.org/10.1086/704386CrossRef

37.

Tarrence J (2022) Is educational mobility harmful for health? Soc Sci Res. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2022.102741CrossRefPubMed

38.

Willis P (1981) Learning to labor: how working class kids get working class jobs. Columbia University Press, Berkeley

39.

Simard-Duplain G, St-Denis X (2020) Exploration of the role of education in intergenerational income mobility in Canada: evidence from the longitudinal and international study of adults. Can Public Policy 46:369–396. https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2019-072CrossRef

40.

Chow A, Guppy N (2021) Intergenerational educational mobility over the past century in Canada. Can Rev Sociol Can Sociol 58:372–398. https://doi.org/10.1111/cars.12348CrossRef

41.

OECD (2018) A broken social elevator? How to promote social mobility. OECD Publishing, ParisCrossRef

42.

Rouquette A, Côté SM, Pryor LE et al (2014) Cohort profile: the Quebec longitudinal study of kindergarten children (QLSKC). Int J Epidemiol 43:23–33. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dys177CrossRefPubMed

43.

Collet OA, Orri M, Tremblay RE et al (2022) Psychometric properties of the social behavior questionnaire (SBQ) in a longitudinal population-based sample. Int J Behav Dev. https://doi.org/10.1177/01650254221113472CrossRef

44.

Smith M (2004) Parental mental health: disruptions to parenting and outcomes for children. Child Fam Soc Work 9:3–11. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2206.2004.00312.xCrossRef

45.

Galéra C, Côté SM, Bouvard MP et al (2011) Early risk factors for hyperactivity-impulsivity and inattention trajectories from age 17 months to 8 years. Arch Gen Psychiatry 68:1267–1275. https://doi.org/10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.138CrossRefPubMed

46.

Root A, Brown JP, Forbes HJ et al (2019) Association of relative age in the school year with diagnosis of intellectual disability, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and depression. JAMA Pediatr 173:1068–1075. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.3194CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

47.

Strohschein L (2005) Household income histories and child mental health trajectories. J Health Soc Behav 46:359–375. https://doi.org/10.1177/002214650504600404CrossRefPubMed

48.

Jelenkovic A, Mikkonen J, Martikainen P et al (2018) Association between birth weight and educational attainment: an individual-based pooled analysis of nine twin cohorts. J Epidemiol Commun Health 72:832–837. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2017-210403CrossRef

49.

Norton EC, Dowd BE, Maciejewski ML (2019) Marginal effects—quantifying the effect of changes in risk factors in logistic regression models. JAMA 321:1304–1305. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2019.1954CrossRefPubMed

50.

Klein D. MIMRGNS: Stata module to run margins after mi estimate. 2014. https://ideas.repec.org/c/boc/bocode/s457795.html

51.

Kohler U, Karlson KB, Holm A (2011) Comparing coefficients of nested nonlinear probability models. Stata J 11:420–438. https://doi.org/10.1177/1536867X1101100306CrossRef

52.

Karlson KB, Holm A, Breen R (2012) Comparing regression coefficients between same-sample nested models using logit and probit: a new method. Sociol Methodol 42:286–313. https://doi.org/10.1177/0081175012444861CrossRef

53.

Breen R, Karlson KB, Holm A (2013) Total, direct, and indirect effects in logit and probit models. Sociol Methods Res 42:164–191. https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124113494572MathSciNetCrossRef

54.

Björklund A, Salvanes KG (2011) Chapter 3—education and family background: mechanisms and policies. EconStor make your publications visible, Elsevier

55.

Domond P, Orri M, Algan Y et al (2020) Child care attendance and educational and economic outcomes in adulthood. Pediatrics 146:e20193880. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2019-3880CrossRefPubMed

56.

Felfe C, Lechner M, Steinmayr A (2016) Sports and child development. PLoS ONE 11:e0151729. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0151729CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

57.

Bodovski K, Farkas G (2008) “Concerted cultivation” and unequal achievement in elementary school. Soc Sci Res 37:903–919. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2008.02.007CrossRef

58.

Culatta E, Clay-Warner J (2021) Falling behind and feeling bad: unmet expectations and mental health during the transition to adulthood. Soc Ment Health 11:251–265. https://doi.org/10.1177/2156869321991892CrossRef

59.

Pingault J-B, Côté SM, Petitclerc A et al (2015) Assessing the independent contribution of maternal educational expectations to children’s educational attainment in early adulthood: a propensity score matching analysis. PLoS One 10:e0119638. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0119638CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

60.

Lundborg P, Plug E, Rasmussen AW (2021) On the family origins of human capital formation: Evidence from donor children. IZA Discuss Pap, Bonn, p 14708

61.

Bourdieu P, Passeron J (1990) Reproduction in education, society and culture. SAGE Publications, London

62.

Jæger MM (2011) Does cultural capital really affect academic achievement? New evidence from combined sibling and panel data. Sociol Educ 84:281–298. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040711417010CrossRef

63.

Jæger MM, Karlson KB (2018) Cultural capital and educational inequality: a counterfactual analysis. Sociol Sci 5:775–795CrossRef

64.

Institut du Québec. Décrochage scolaire au Québec: Dix ans de surplace malgré les efforts de financement. 2018. https://institutduquebec.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/201804-IDQ-Decrochage-scolaire-au-Quebec_IDQ_BR-002.pdf

Title: Childhood behavioral problems are associated with the intergenerational transmission of low education: a 16-year population-based study
Authors: Adam Vanzella-Yang
Francis Vergunst
Pascale Domond
Frank Vitaro
Richard E. Tremblay
Vincent Bégin
Sylvana Côté
Publication date: 17-03-2023
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry / Issue 2/2024
Print ISSN: 1018-8827
Electronic ISSN: 1435-165X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-023-02193-w

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Childhood behavioral problems are associated with the intergenerational transmission of low education: a 16-year population-based study

Abstract

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 2/2024

Burden of mental, behavioral, and neurodevelopmental disorders in the Finnish most preterm children: a national register study

Prevalence of substance use disorders and associations with mindfulness, impulsive personality traits and psychopathological symptoms in a representative sample of adolescents in Germany

Efficacy of cannabinoids in neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders among children and adolescents: a systematic review

Inflammatory burden of adolescents with childhood maltreatment: results from baseline data of a school cohort

Risk of new onset and persistent psychopathology in children with long-term physical health conditions: a population-based cohort study

The bidirectional relationship between head injuries and conduct problems: longitudinal modelling of a population-based birth cohort study