The Influence of Parental Educational Expectations on Children’s Higher Education Attainment: Re-estimation Based on Instrumental Variables

Abstract

Studies show that parental educational expectations (PEEs) serve as an intermediary variable between family background and children’s educational attainment. This paper re-examines the relationship between PEEs and children’s higher educational attainment using data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) 2010–2018. To address potential endogenous problems in the previous papers, we use the average College Enrolment Opportunity Index (CEOI) when the children were 10–12 years old as an instrumental variable for PEEs. The results revealed that: (1) In addition to the indirect intermediary effects, the PEEs also had a direct impact on children’s higher educational attainment independent of family background; (2) the magnitude of the effect was much larger (almost three times) than previous estimates after solving endogenous problems; (3) there was no significant gender difference in the effect of PEEs. In addition, we also found that PEEs had a greater impact on middle- and low-income families. Therefore, we argue that against the background of the “Double Reduction” policy, parents should change their conception of education and raise their expectations for their children and encourage them to strive for higher educational achievements.

Exploración del medio para fortalecer autonomía en educación inicial [Exploration of the environment to strengthen autonomy in early childhood education]

“…En relación con este concepto planteado por Jerome Bruner, es interesante que el niño aprenda no solo en el aula, sino que explore el entorno natural y de esta manera aprenda a conocer los elementos que le ayudaran a resolver inconvenientes de la vida diaria, lo que fortalece su autonomía mediante conceptos críticos propios de su edad (Pinheiro, 2019;Wang & Hugo, 2023). Es decir, el medio externo que constituyen todos los elementos del entorno natural es importante al momento de contribuir a la autonomía de los niños, puesto que crecer en libertad les da seguridad, aunque existan actitudes protectoras por parte de padres y maestros estás tendrán una influencia relevante en la vida presente y futura del niño (Lai et al 2022).…”

Latent Regression Analysis Considering Student, Teacher, and Parent Variables and Their Relationship with Academic Performance in Primary School Students in Chile

“…On the other hand, the link between family and school is also relevant to expectation development [ 63 , 64 ], with a sense of commitment to family obligations increasing students’ motivation to study [ 65 , 66 ] and parental and community emotional support reinforcing the academic capacities of children with difficulties in the socio-affective domain [ 67 , 68 , 69 ]. In addition, parental involvement, particularly from the mother, and parental expectations can reduce the negative and stressful effects of adverse socio-affective and contextual conditions [ 70 , 71 ], which are predictors of school performance, along with a positive school climate and resilient teachers [ 72 , 73 ].…”