IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socres/v16y2011i3p1-14.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Downward Social Mobility across Generations: The Role of Parental Mobility and Education

Author

Listed:
  • Susanne Alm

Abstract

Intergenerational downward social mobility is an issue of growing relevance, but there are still very few studies examining possible risk factors for dropping down the occupational hierarchy. On the basis of unique longitudinal interview and register data from Sweden, this study analyses the roles played by parental upward mobility and parental levels of education in downward mobility. Elements from cultural capital theory (CCT) are investigated as possible mechanisms for explaining the relationship between independent and dependent factors. Whereas the study fails to find support for the role of parental mobility, the parents' level of education turns out to be a powerful predictor of downward mobility. And whereas the measure of cultural capital presents a weak or non-existent relationship with the dependent variable, two attitudinal variables, employed as indicators of habitus and a possible don Quixote effect, do present a significant relationship with the risk for downward mobility. However, while the study hypothesized these attitudes to be mediating mechanisms that might explain the relationship between parental educational level and downward mobility, in the multivariate analyses the attitudinal measures instead turn out to have an independent effect in addition to the parental level of education.

Suggested Citation

  • Susanne Alm, 2011. "Downward Social Mobility across Generations: The Role of Parental Mobility and Education," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 16(3), pages 1-14, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:16:y:2011:i:3:p:1-14
    DOI: 10.5153/sro.2416
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5153/sro.2416
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5153/sro.2416?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hemmingsson, Tomas & Lundberg, Ingvar & Diderichsen, Finn, 1999. "The roles of social class of origin, achieved social class and intergenerational social mobility in explaining social-class inequalities in alcoholism among young men," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 49(8), pages 1051-1059, October.
    2. West, Patrick, 1991. "Rethinking the health selection explanation for health inequalities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 373-384, January.
    3. Timms, Duncan, 1998. "Gender, social mobility and psychiatric diagnoses," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 46(9), pages 1235-1247, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alexi Gugushvili & Martin McKee & Michael Murphy & Aytalina Azarova & Darja Irdam & Katarzyna Doniec & Lawrence King, 2019. "Intergenerational Mobility in Relative Educational Attainment and Health-Related Behaviours," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 141(1), pages 413-441, January.
    2. Sanna Tiikkaja & Sven Sandin & Ninoa Malki & Bitte Modin & Pär Sparén & Christina M Hultman, 2013. "Social Class, Social Mobility and Risk of Psychiatric Disorder - A Population-Based Longitudinal Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(11), pages 1-1, November.
    3. Campos-Matos, Inês & Kawachi, Ichiro, 2015. "Social mobility and health in European countries: Does welfare regime type matter?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 241-248.
    4. Lenice de Castro Muniz de Quadros & Luciana de Avila Quevedo & Janaína Vieira dos Santos Motta & André Carraro & Felipe Garcia Ribeiro & Bernardo Lessa Horta & Denise Petrucci Gigante, 2015. "Social Mobility and Mental Disorders at 30 Years of Age in Participants of the 1982 Cohort, Pelotas, Rio Grande Do Sul – RS," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(10), pages 1-11, October.
    5. Ning Xu & Chang’an Li, 2023. "Migration and Rural Sustainability: Relative Poverty Alleviation by Geographical Mobility in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-27, April.
    6. Xu, Wenyan & Zhao, Qiran & Si, Wei & Zhu, Chen, 2024. "Rich and fat? Isolating the causal effect of obesity on income among rural Chinese residents by Mendelian randomization," 2024 Annual Meeting, July 28-30, New Orleans, LA 343633, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Yang Xiao & Yanjie Bian & Lei Zhang, 2020. "Mental Health of Chinese Online Networkers under COVID-19: A Sociological Analysis of Survey Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-17, November.
    8. Dumas, A. & Cailbault, I. & Perrey, C. & Oberlin, O. & De Vathaire, F. & Amiel, P., 2015. "Educational trajectories after childhood cancer: When illness experience matters," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 67-74.
    9. Modin, Bitte & Koupil, Ilona & Vågerö, Denny, 2009. "The impact of early twentieth century illegitimacy across three generations. Longevity and intergenerational health correlates," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(9), pages 1633-1640, May.
    10. von Hinke Kessler Scholder, Stephanie & Davey Smith, George & Lawlor, Debbie A. & Propper, Carol & Windmeijer, Frank, 2013. "Child height, health and human capital: Evidence using genetic markers," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 1-22.
    11. Leena Koivusilta & Riittakerttu Kaltiala & Anna Myöhänen & Risto Hotulainen & Arja Rimpelä, 2022. "A Chronic Disease in Adolescence and Selection to an Educational Path—A Longitudinal Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-15, November.
    12. Alcántara, Carmela & Chen, Chih-Nan & Alegría, Margarita, 2014. "Do post-migration perceptions of social mobility matter for Latino immigrant health?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 94-106.
    13. Shepherd, Carrington CJ & Li, Jianghong & Mitrou, Francis & Zubrick, Stephen R., 2012. "Socioeconomic disparities in the mental health of Indigenous children in Western Australia," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 12, pages 1-1.
    14. Julia Waldhauer & Benjamin Kuntz & Elvira Mauz & Thomas Lampert, 2019. "Intergenerational Educational Pathways and Self-Rated Health in Adolescence and Young Adulthood: Results of the German KiGGS Cohort," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-15, February.
    15. Foverskov, Else & Holm, Anders, 2016. "Socioeconomic inequality in health in the British household panel: Tests of the social causation, health selection and the indirect selection hypothesis using dynamic fixed effects panel models," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 172-183.
    16. Karin A A De Ridder & Kristine Pape & Roar Johnsen & Turid Lingaas Holmen & Steinar Westin & Johan Håkon Bjørngaard, 2013. "Adolescent Health and High School Dropout: A Prospective Cohort Study of 9000 Norwegian Adolescents (The Young-HUNT)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(9), pages 1-7, September.
    17. Jian Wang & Liuna Geng, 2019. "Effects of Socioeconomic Status on Physical and Psychological Health: Lifestyle as a Mediator," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-9, January.
    18. Alyson van Raalte & Pekka Martikainen & Mikko Myrskylä, 2014. "Lifespan Variation by Occupational Class: Compression or Stagnation Over Time?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(1), pages 73-95, February.
    19. Fubaihui Wang & Qingkai Zhen & Kaigang Li & Xu Wen, 2018. "Association of socioeconomic status and health-related behavior with elderly health in China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(9), pages 1-14, September.
    20. Hoffmann, Rasmus & Kröger, Hannes & Pakpahan, Eduwin, 2018. "Pathways between socioeconomic status and health: Does health selection or social causation dominate in Europe?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 36, pages 23-36.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:16:y:2011:i:3:p:1-14. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.