Number of books at home as an indicator of socioeconomic status: Examining its extensions and their incremental validity for academic achievement

The present study investigates the incremental validity of the traditional books-at-home measure and selected extensions (i.e., number of children’s books and number of ebooks) for explaining students’ academic achievement as measured by their academic language comprehension. Using multiple linear regressions, we additionally explore the role of the source of information (i.e., whether information is given by parents or children). Based on cross-sectional data of a German sample of 2353 elementary school children from Grades 2 through 4, we found that parents’ information on the number of books and children’s books contributed to students’ academic language comprehension over and above parental occupation and education. Children’s information on the number of books did not further increase the amount of explained variance, and the effects were smaller than those for parents’ information. Yet, when investigated separately, both parents’ and children’s information on the number of books and children’s books at home predicted students’ academic language comprehension and mediated the relationship between more distal structural features of socioeconomic status (i.e., parents’ occupational status and education) and the outcome variable. No effect emerged for the number of ebooks. Our findings point to the robustness of the traditional books-at-home measure when used in parent questionnaires.Peer Reviewe

Reducing or Widening the Gap? How the Educational Aspirations and Expectations of Turkish and Majority Families Develop During Lower Secondary Education in Germany

Unterschiede in den Bildungsaspirationen zwischen Personen mit Migrationshintergrund und der Mehrheitsbevölkerung wurden häufig an spezifischen Punkten der Bildungskarriere analysiert. Wenig ist jedoch über die Verläufe von Aspirationen und die Entwicklung ethnischer Unterschiede im Zeitverlauf bekannt. Unter Anwendung gängiger Erklärungsansätze (Immigrant optimism, relativer Statuserhalt, antizipierte Diskriminierung, ethnische Netzwerke und Informationsdefizite) leiten wir spezifische Hypothesen über die Entwicklung von Bildungsaspirationen und -erwartungen im Zeitverlauf ab und konzentrieren uns dabei auf Familien aus der Türkei. Wir greifen auf Daten des Nationalen Bildungspanels (NEPS) zurück, um zu untersuchen, wie sich die Aspirationen und Erwartungen für den höchsten Schulabschluss im Verlauf der Sekundarstufe I im stratifizierten Schulsystem Deutschlands entwickeln. Unter Anwendung einer Multi-Akteurs-Perspektive unterscheiden wir die von Schülerinnen und Schülern und ihren Eltern berichteten Aspirationsverläufe. Erstens analysieren wir die Entwicklung von Gruppenunterschieden. In Übereinstimmung mit früherer Forschung finden wir zu Beginn der Sekundarstufe I in Deutschland höhere Aspirationen und Erwartungen für türkische Schülerinnen und Schüler und ihre Eltern, wenn soziale Herkunft und Leistungsunterschiede kontrolliert werden. Die Herkunftsunterschiede für die Erwartungen der Schülerinnen und Schüler und die Aspirationen der Eltern nehmen im Verlauf der Sekundarstufe I ab. Zweitens zeigen die intra-individuellen Verläufe der Aspirationen und Erwartungen, dass türkischstämmige Eltern diese eher nach unten anpassen als Eltern der ethnischen Mehrheit, während türkischstämmige Schülerinnen und Schüler eine höhere Wahrscheinlichkeit stabil hoher Aspirationen und Erwartungen aufweisen als Schülerinnen und Schüler ohne Migrationshintergrund.Differences in educational goals between immigrants and the majority population have often been analysed at specific stages in their educational career. Little is known about longitudinal trajectories and the development of group differences over time. By applying common explanations (immigrant optimism, relative status maintenance, blocked opportunities, ethnic networks and information deficits), we derived specific hypotheses about the development of educational aspirations and expectations over time, focusing on families from Turkey. We drew upon data from the National Educational Panel Study to assess how aspirations and expectations for the highest school degree develop over the course of lower secondary education in Germany's stratified school system. Applying a multi-actor perspective, we observed trajectories reported by students and their parents. First, we analysed the development of group differences. In line with prior research, we found higher aspirations and expectations for Turkish students and their parents at the beginning of lower secondary education in Germany once social background and achievement differences were controlled for. Origin gaps for students' expectations and parents’ aspirations decreased over the course of lower secondary education. Second, intraindividual trajectories of aspirations and expectations revealed that parents of Turkish origin were more likely to experience downwards adaptations than majority parents, whereas students of Turkish origin were more likely to hold stable high aspirations and expectations than majority students

The role of energy balance related behaviors in socioeconomic inequalities in childhood body mass index : a comparative analysis of Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States

Socioeconomic inequalities in childhood Body Mass Index (BMI) are becoming increasingly more pronounced across the world. Although countries differ in the direction and strength of these inequalities, cross-national comparative research on this topic is rare. This paper draws on harmonized longitudinal cohort data from four wealthy countries—Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US)—to 1) map cross-country differences in the magnitude of socioeconomic inequalities in childhood BMI, and 2) to examine cross-country differences in the role of three energy-balance-related behaviors—physical activity, screen time, and breakfast consumption—in explaining these inequalities. Children were aged 5–7 at our first timepoint and were followed up at age 8–11. We used data from the German National Educational Panel Study, the Dutch Generation R study, the UK Millennium Cohort Study and the US Early Childhood Longitudinal-Kindergarten Study. All countries revealed significant inequalities in childhood BMI. The US stood out in having the largest inequalities. Overall, inequalities between children with low versus medium educated parents were smaller than those between children with high versus medium educated parents. The role of energy-balance-related behaviors in explaining inequalities in BMI was surprisingly consistent. Across countries, physical activity did not, while screen time and breakfast consumption did play a role. The only exception was that breakfast consumption did not play a role in the US. Cross-country differences emerged in the relative contribution of each behavior in explaining inequalities in BMI: Breakfast consumption was most important in the UK, screen time explained most in Germany and the US, and breakfast consumption and screen time were equally important in the Netherlands. Our findings suggest that what constitutes the most effective policy intervention differs across countries and that these should target both children from medium as well as low educated families