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Educational expectations of UK teenagers and the role of socio-economic status and economic preferences

Author

Listed:
  • Silvan Has

    (UCL Social Research Institute)

  • Jake Anders

    (UCL Centre for Education Policy & Equalising Opportunities)

  • John Jerrim

    (UCL Social Research Institute)

  • Nikki Shure

    (UCL Social Research Institute)

Abstract

Young people's decision making process to go to university might depend on both family background and character traits. In this study, we research the association between long-term socio-economic status (SES) during adolescence, economic preferences such as risk attitudes and time preferences, and teenagers' expectations of going to university. Using data on British teenagers from the Millennium Cohort Study we find that higher SES is associated with higher educational expectations. Furthermore, more patient teenagers think it more likely for them to go to university. However, risk attitudes are not associated with educational expectations. All results are robust to including rich sets of background variables including cognitive measures and school grades. This implies that for the British education system to become more meritocratic and to improve intergenerational mobility, future policies should target the SES gap in educational expectations. Furthermore, improving patience in young people could be a channel through which educational policy helps improve university attendance.

Suggested Citation

  • Silvan Has & Jake Anders & John Jerrim & Nikki Shure, 2021. "Educational expectations of UK teenagers and the role of socio-economic status and economic preferences," CEPEO Working Paper Series 21-11, UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, revised Dec 2021.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucl:cepeow:21-11
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Human capital formation; Educational investment; Risk preferences; Time preferences; Socio-economic status.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality

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