No previous study on the interrelation between parental birth order and offspring educational attainment has analysed the first stage of tracking into schools, which in many countries is highly selective of persons who aim for university studies. We do so and examine how parental birth order is associated with attainment of general upper secondary…

The effects on social mobility of stratifying pupils into different educational pathways have been debated for decades. We intervene in this debate by showing that stratification in secondary schooling is multidimensional. The extent of "differentiation" into separate tracks is distinct from "hierarchy" between tracks. To…

School absences can negatively impact a child's schooling, including the loss of teacher-led lessons, peer interactions, and, ultimately, academic achievement. However, little is known about the long-term consequences of school absences for overall educational attainment and labour market outcomes. In this paper, we used data from the 1970 British…

The designation of first-generation college students in educational research has been operationalized inconsistently since its inception. This variation makes understanding and generalizing about this complex group problematic. We explore the inconsistencies in definitions of first-generation students using a culture of college resilience…

Background: Delinquent behaviours among youth harms health and social trajectories, and public health broadly. Despite evidence that engaging in and being victimized by delinquent behaviours often cluster, most studies have examined the clustering of delinquent behaviours or victimization experiences independently. Information on patterns of…

In the 1960s, people across the West started imagining that they were in a societal transition. Crucially, in these future-oriented discussions, social class was often transformed into educational attainment as the main dividing line. These future studies garnered attention across the political spectrum, including the Swedish Conservative Party.…

This paper examines the roles of parental social class and cultural capital in inequalities in English school qualifications. The analytical focus is the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). Integral to Bourdieu's theory of cultural reproduction is the conception that inequalities in cultural capital explain the unequal scholastic…

Worldwide, an increasing number of students seek private supplementary tutoring, known as 'shadow education.' Various studies report social class differences in the use of shadow education. High-SES families may invest in shadow education as a form of concerted cultivation, seeking to improve their children's school achievement. In this study, we…

The relevance of the problem under study stems from the fact that the practice of terrorism is one of the main challenges of contemporary world politics, affecting various regions of our planet. In this regard, the study of this phenomenon within a particular region deserves special attention, Northern Ireland in this case. The practice of…

Based on the life and educational histories of sixteen high-achieving, working-class girls applying to high-tariff universities, this paper rekindles debates about the role of agency within the decision-making process of young people who might not otherwise be expected to apply to such institutions. It draws on Margaret Archer's theorising to…

A unique series of surveys of school leavers in Scotland (1952-98) is used to investigate long-term developments in the transition of young people from school. Transitions changed greatly in the half century, and varied by sex and socio-economic status. School attainment became increasingly important in giving school leavers access to post-school…

Despite social class being a burgeoning area of research in the higher education literature, there is no single comprehensive measure of social class in university student populations. Most previous research has included objective single-item measures (e.g., parent education or occupation) to assess social class and then sorted students into…

This study examines how intersections of race, class, and collegiate involvement shape students' educational outcomes, specifically degree attainment. It explores (a) to what extent involvement influences student's educational outcomes and (b) how the relationship between involvement and outcomes varies by socioeconomic status, race, and the…

This study constructs a logit model to examine the impact of family class differences on the higher education accessibility of offspring, and examines the moderating effect of the higher education expansion policy on the relationship between family class differences and higher education accessibility of offspring. The data was collected from 5181…

Although the positive relationship between social determinants and college attainment is well established, less is known about how social class specifically relates to the linear and timely completion of postsecondary degrees. In this paper, we empirically examine on-time completion of bachelor's degrees using social class proxies for a national…