Intergenerational mobility in socio-emotional skills

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Public Economics
Year: 2025
Volume: 248
Issue: C

Authors (3)

Attanasio, Orazio P. (not in RePEc) de Paula, Áureo (Centre for Microdata Methods) Toppeta, Alessandro (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

1.345 = (α=2.02 / 3 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This paper investigates the intergenerational transmission of socio-emotional skills during childhood, using data from the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) in the United Kingdom. This dataset enables us to measure two dimensions of socio-emotional development: internalising and externalising skills. More importantly, we can use multiple measures of parents’ skills collected during both their childhood and their adulthood. Whereas parent–child skills are strongly related when both are measured contemporaneously, they remain correlated when both are measured in childhood, with a stronger transmission observed from mothers to their children. The BCS70 data finally enable us to estimate the correlation between the grandmother’s internalising skill and the grandchildren’s skills, after accounting for parental skills.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:pubeco:v:248:y:2025:i:c:s0047272725001215
Journal Field
Public
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-25