Understanding the Different Mechanisms Underlying the Intergenerational Transmission of Advantage and Disadvantage

Families have long been recognized as playing a central role in the reproduction of social and economic inequality, and it is clear that a host of life outcomes are intricately tied to family of origin. Children from lower socio-economic positions generally tend to have poorer outcomes along many dimensions: lower educational achievements and attainments, lower income and earnings, and poorer health, among others. And yet members of the same families do experience different outcomes – some individuals do better in school, have better health, and earn more money than their siblings. Some combination, and interaction, of genes and environment are typically understood to contribute to the clustering of outcomes along family lines. But why this clustering occurs and why some family members experience different life outcomes is still not well understood. Understanding the factors that contribute to this variation within and between families in life outcomes is at the core of many policy concerns, but disentangling the factors and mechanisms remains a challenge.

Suzanne Bianchi and Judith Seltzer at UCLA and Joseph Hotz at Duke University hold that in order to make serious strides in our understanding of the mechanisms involved in intergenerational transmission of advantage and disadvantage, a multi-disciplinary framework is necessary for both theoretical and empirical reasons. Theoretically, integrating insights from a number of disciplines (sociology, economics, demography, psychology, genetics, and biology) would contribute to a more complete understanding of intergenerational linkages and mechanisms of transmission. Empirically, they note that few data sets have the requisite design and content, longitudinal framework, or span significant periods of the life course to fully exploit the theoretical integration they suggest.

This workshop plans to bring together a diverse group of scholars whose work informs the variety of possible dimensions of intergenerational transmission – genes and biological development, health behaviors and risks, cognitive functioning and non-cognitive personality traits, transfers of economic resources and skills, decision-making and risk preferences, and social ties and family transmission of norms and responsibilities. The workshop is proposed as a first step in discussing the potential for forming a working group to advance collaborative, interdisciplinary research on how “family” processes and mechanisms operate throughout the life-course.