Over recent decades, families have changed dramatically. Divorce has become more common, and families vary greatly in size. At the same time, access to higher education has expanded across the globe. How do these family changes shape a child’s educational opportunities? And do these patterns hold across generations, countries, and regions?
A Mapineq study conducted by scholars at the University of Turku—Hannu Lehti, Minna Tuominem, Elina Kilpi-Jakonen and Jani Erola—explored how two key aspects of family composition—parental separation and the number of siblings—relate to higher education attainment. It draws on data from the Generation and Gender Survey, covering 18 countries, 226 regions, and over 107,000 individuals. Using advanced statistical techniques, including multilevel models, the study assesses how consistent these relationships are across different contexts and over time. It also examines how parental education shapes these associations, comparing them with the strength of intergenerational educational transmission.
Key findings
The study finds that intergenerational transmission of education—the link between a parent’s and their child’s educational attainment—is much stronger than the effects of family composition. This pattern holds both within and across countries and generations. Country and regional differences in the associations between family composite measures and higher education have remain stable across birth cohorts.
However, in earlier generations, children from highly educated families were more negatively affected by having many siblings. In contrast, for more recent generations, family size no longer appears to affect children’s educational chances differently depending on parental education.
The impact of parental separation on educational attainment remains relatively stable across time and place. Notably, individuals from higher-educated families experience a growing disadvantage linked to parental divorce. While overall divorce has become more common and less stigmatised, its consequences for children’s education still depend heavily on family background.
The role institutions and places
Perhaps surprisingly, the study finds that while educational systems and policies influence how strongly parents’ education shapes their children’s, they do not seem to alter much the effects of divorce or family size — suggesting that educational institutions have a limited capacity to correct or buffer the inequalities rooted in family circumstances.
Moreover, the variation in the link between family composition and education across countries and regions is modest. This indicates a certain universality in how these family factors operate, regardless of national context. While regional and national differences do exist, they are far smaller than those found in intergenerational education mobility.
Interpretation and limitations
The study reveals that while family composition still matters, its impact is relatively stable and modest when compared to the strong influence of parental education.
It is important to emphasise that this study identifies associations rather than causal effects. The data come from surveys, which may include reporting biases. However, such biases are unlikely to vary systematically across countries or cohorts, meaning they should not affect the patterns of variation reported.