Shared Lifetimes, Multigenerational Exposure, and Educational Mobility

• Published in: Demography Vol. 56; no. 3; pp. 891 - 916
• Main Authors: Song, Xi, Mare, Robert D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Population Association of America (Springer) 01.06.2019; Springer US; Duke University Press, NC & IL
• Subjects: Academic Success; Computer Simulation; Demography; Education; Educational mobility; Exposure; FAMILY DEMOGRAPHY; Female; Fertility; Geography; Grandchildren; Grandparent-Grandchild relationships; Grandparents; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Humans; Intergenerational Relations; Levels; Life Expectancy; Male; Medicine/Public Health; Mobility; Models, Statistical; Mortality; Mortality - trends; Parity; Population Economics; Population statistics; Social mobility; Social Mobility - history; Social Sciences; Socioeconomic Factors; Sociology; Statistical analysis; Timing; Trends; Vital Statistics; Demographic change; Grandparents; Social mobility; Multigenerational exposure; Educational attainment
• ISSN: 0070-3370; 1533-7790; 1533-7790
• DOI: 10.1007/s13524-019-00772-8

In this article, we report analyses of the effects of fertility and mortality trends on the mutual exposure of grandparents and grandchildren and their consequences for multigenerational processes of social mobility in the United States from 1900 to 2010. Using historical vital statistics and stable population models, we report systematic analyses of grandparent-grandchild exposures from both prospective (grandparent) and retrospective (grandchild) perspectives. We also estimate exposure levels and trends specific to education levels of grandparents and grandchildren and decompose the overall trend into the effect of changing mortality, fertility level, and fertility timing. We show that changes in mutual exposure of grandparent and grandchild generations may have contributed to an increasing association between grandparents' and grandchildren's educational attainments.