Parental Educational Homogamy and Children’s Tertiary Education in Europe

In this paper, we examine (1) whether parental educational homogamy is associated with children’s tertiary educational attainment in different European countries and (2) whether this association is moderated by families’ educational backgrounds. Using data from the European Social Survey and multilevel logistic regression models, we find that parental homogamy is important for children’s tertiary educational attainment. In particular, children of more highly educated homogamous parents are more likely to obtain a tertiary degree themselves. This parental homogamy association varies across countries. While the association is below the European average in Czechia, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany, it is equal or close to average in Slovenia, Estonia, France, Poland, Ireland, Sweden, and Lithuania, and above average in Spain, Finland, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Belgium. Our findings suggest that parental educational constellations should be examined more closely in further education inequality research. * This article belongs to a special issue on “Changes in Educational Homogamy and Its Consequences”.