Inequalities in educational decisions by migration background - the role of of information availability
Empirical Social Research
Final Report Abstract
Numerous studies indicate that parents with an immigrant background make more favorable educational decisions during the transition from elementary school to secondary school after controlling for school performance and social origin. However, the reasons for these differences have yet to be fully understood. To explain the observed differences in decision behavior, we combine the assumptions of different theoretical approaches to decision-making in an integrative approach to explain the existing differences in decision behavior. Our results show that parents with an immigrant background have less knowledge about the German education system than parents without an immigrant background. Existing information differences between parents can largely be explained by differences in their cultural and social capital endowment. Information differences between parents with and without immigrant backgrounds decrease with an increasing social background, a more frequent use of the German language, and increasing contacts with higher educated persons without immigration background. Parents with and without an immigrant background also perceive the costs, returns, and likelihood of success of further education differently. However, the differences are often reduced when social background characteristics and parents' educational informativeness are considered. In some cases, however, more favorable perceptions of parents with an immigrant background also emerge. For example, parents with an immigrant background are more likely to assume their children will successfully pass the Abitur than parents without an immigrant background. Furthermore, the influences of individuals in the parents' social environment, such as their children, on evaluating costs, returns, and probabilities of success are evident. The results indicate that these influences vary with parents' informativeness. After accounting for social background and academic achievement, immigrant parents are more likely to choose to attend a Gymnasium than nonimmigrant parents. The differences in educational decisions between parents with and without an immigrant background can be explained by the costs, returns, and probabilities of success associated with the various degrees in Germany and the educational ambitions in the social environment. There is also an indication of social influence processes in educational decision-making that vary according to the level of information available to parents.
Publications
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Zur Erklärung von Unterschieden im entscheidungsrelevanten Bildungswissen zwischen Eltern mit und ohne Migrationshintergrund in Deutschland. 10. Tagung der Gesellschaft für Empirische Bildungsforschung, Essen, Deutschland
Zimmermann, T.
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Explaining differences in decision-relevant educational knowledge between parents with and without an immigrant background in Germany. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 90, 100894.
Zimmermann, Thomas
