Pathways of Intergenerational Transmission of Advantages during Adolescence: Social Background, Cognitive Ability, and Educational Attainment.

Educational attainment in adolescence is of paramount importance for attaining higher education and for shaping subsequent life chances. Sociological accounts focus on the role of differences in socioeconomic resources in intergenerational reproduction of educational inequalities. These often disregard the intergenerational transmission of cognitive ability and the importance of children's cognitive ability to educational attainment. Psychological perspectives stress the importance of cognitive ability for educational attainment but underemphasize potentially different roles of specific socioeconomic resources in shaping educational outcomes, as well as individual differences in cognitive ability. By integrating two strands of research, a clearer picture of the pathways linking the family of origin, cognitive ability, and early educational outcomes can be reached. Using the population-based TwinLife study in Germany, we investigated multidimensional pathways linking parental socioeconomic position to their children's cognitive ability and academic track attendance in the secondary school. The sample included twins (N = 4008), respectively ages 11 and 17, and siblings (N = 801). We observed strong genetic influences on cognitive ability, whereas shared environmental influences were much more important for academic tracking. In multilevel analyses, separate dimensions of socioeconomic resources influenced child cognitive ability, controlling parental cognitive ability. Controlling adolescent cognitive ability and parental cognitive ability, parental socioeconomic resources also directly affected track attendance. This indicated that it is crucial to investigate the intertwined influences on educational outcomes in adolescence of both cognitive ability and the characteristics of the family of origin.

Pathways between perceived discrimination and health among immigrants: evidence from a large national panel survey in Germany.

OBJECTIVE: Discrimination is an important determinant of health, and its experience may contribute to the emergence of health inequalities between immigrants and nonimmigrants. We examine pathways between perceived discrimination and health among immigrants in Germany: (1) whether perceptions of discrimination predict self-reported mental and physical health (SF-12), or (2) whether poor mental and physical health predict perceptions of discrimination, and (3) whether discrimination affects physical health via mental health. DESIGN: Data on immigrants come from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) from the years 2002 to 2010 (N = 8,307), a large national panel survey. Random and fixed effects regression models have been estimated. RESULTS: Perceptions of discrimination affect mental and physical health. The effect of perceived discrimination on physical health is mediated by its effect on mental health. Our analyses do not support the notion that mental and physical health predict the subsequent reporting of discrimination. Different immigrant groups are differentially exposed to perceived discrimination. CONCLUSION: In spite of anti-discrimination laws, the health of immigrants in Germany is negatively affected by perceived discrimination. Differential exposure to perceived discrimination may be seen as a mechanism contributing to the emergence of health inequalities in Germany.

Standardized Testing, Use of Assessment Data, and Low Reading Performance of Immigrant and Non-immigrant Students in OECD Countries.

This paper investigates the effects of standardized testing and publication of achievement data on low reading performance for immigrant and non-immigrant students in 30 OECD countries. The paper aims to test hypotheses derived from a principal-agent framework. According to this theoretical perspective, standardized assessments alone should not be associated with reading performance. Instead, the model proposes that the provision of the results to the principle (parents and education authorities) is associated with higher student performance, as this reduces the information asymmetry between principal (parents and educational authorities) and agent (teachers and schools). The results of our analyses of PISA 2009 and 2015 reading data from 422.172 students show that first, the use of standardized achievement tests alone was not associated with the risk of low performance. Second, making the results of standardized tests available to the public was associated with a decreased risk of low reading performance among all students, and, third, particularly among first generation immigrant students. These results were robust across various modeling approaches. In accordance with the predictions from the principal-agent framework, our findings suggest that the mere implementation of standardized assessments has no effects on low performance. Testing along with the public provision of the testing results, which decreases the information asymmetry between schools and teachers on the one hand and parents and education authorities on the other, was associated with a decreased risk of low performance, with the effect being stronger for immigrant students.

Associations Between the Big Five Personality Traits and the Non-Medical Use of Prescription Drugs for Cognitive Enhancement.

While the number of studies of the non-medical use of prescription drugs to augment cognitive functions is growing steadily, psychological factors that can potentially help explain variance in such pharmaceutical cognitive enhancement (CE) behavior are often neglected in research. This study investigates the association between the Big Five personality traits and a retrospective (prior CE-drug use) as well as a prospective (willingness to use CE drugs) measure of taking prescription drugs with the purpose of augmenting one's cognitive functions (e.g., concentration, memory, or vigilance) without medical necessity. We use data from a large representative survey of German employees (N = 6454, response rate = 29.8%). The Five Factor Model (FFM) of Personality was measured with a short version of the Big Five Personality Traits Inventory (BFI-S), which includes: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Together with this, demographic variables such as gender, age, education, and income were used as potential confounders in multiple logistic regression models. Our results show a 2.96% lifetime prevalence of CE-drug use and a 10.45% willingness to (re)use such drugs in the future. We found that less conscientious and more neurotic respondents have a higher probability of prior CE-drug use and a greater willingness to use CE drugs in the future. No significant effects were found for openness, extraversion, or agreeableness. Prior CE-drug use was strongly associated with a greater willingness to take such drugs in the future. This study shows that specific personality traits are not only associated with prior enhancement behavior, but also affect the willingness to (re)use such drugs. It helps increase understanding of the risk factors of CE-drug use, which is a health-related behavior that can entail severe side-effects for consumers. The knowledge gathered can thus help improve interventions aimed at minimizing health problems.

Effect of Length of Stay on Smoking among Turkish and Eastern European Immigrants in Germany--Interpretation in the Light of the Smoking Epidemic Model and the Acculturation Theory.

BACKGROUND: We analyzed changes in smoking by length of stay among immigrants in Germany and related them to the "smoking epidemic" model and the acculturation theory. METHODS: We used data from a longitudinal survey (German Socio-economic Panel). Immigrants were identified by country of birth (Turkey: respondents n = 828, observations n = 3871; Eastern Europe: respondents n = 2009, observations n = 7202; non-immigrants: respondents n = 34,011, observations n = 140,701). Smoking status data was available for nine years between 1998 and 2012. Length of stay (LOS, in years) was used as proxy for acculturation. We calculated smoking prevalences, prevalence ratios and a random intercept multilevel logistic regression model. RESULTS: With each year spent in Germany, smoking prevalence increases among Turkish women (OR = 1.14 (95%CI = 1.06-1.21)) and slightly decreases among men. Recently immigrated Turkish women smoke less than non-immigrant women (0-5 years: SPR = 0.25 (95%CI = 0.10-0.57)); prevalences converge with increasing LOS (31+ years: SPR = 1.25 (95%CI = 1.06-1.48)). Among Eastern European immigrants no significant changes were apparent. CONCLUSIONS: Immigrants from Turkey "import" their smoking prevalence from a country which is in the earlier stages of the "smoking epidemic". With increasing LOS (thus, advancing acculturation), they "move" to the later stages. Anti-smoking interventions should consider different smoking attitudes in Turkey/Germany and need to discourage women from initiating smoking. Future research should also identify reasons for the possible differences between immigrant groups.

Different contexts, different effects? Work time and mental health in the United States and Germany.

This paper takes a comparative approach to the topic of work time and health, asking whether weekly work hours matter for mental health. We hypothesize that these relationships differ within the United States and Germany, given the more regulated work time environments within Germany and the greater incentives to work long hours in the United States. We further hypothesize that German women will experience greatest penalties to long hours. We use data from the German Socioeconomic Panel and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to examine hours effects on mental health score at midlife. The results support our initial hypothesis. In Germany, longer work time is associated with worse mental health, while in the United States, as seen in previous research, the associations are more complex. Our results do not show greater mental health penalties for German women and suggest instead a selection effect into work hours operating by gender.

No causal effect of unemployment on smoking? A German panel study.

OBJECTIVES: This study analyses the effects of different unemployment durations on smoking behaviour in Germany by investigating smoking take-up, relapse, quitting and smoking intensity. METHODS: Longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel from the years 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2008 were used to examine the effect of unemployment (52,940 observations from 17,028 respondents, aged 17-65 years). Unemployment duration was measured at 1-6, 7-12, 13-24, and 24+ months. Effects were estimated using zero-inflated negative binomial regressions and fixed effects logistic panel regressions. RESULTS: The zero-inflated negative binomial regression models suggest that the likelihood of smoking increases with unemployment, while smoking intensity is not affected. However, fixed effects logistic regression models demonstrate that unemployment is neither a significant predictor for taking up smoking, relapsing, nor quitting. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that in Germany, there is no direct causal effect of unemployment on smoking behaviour. The observed relationship between smoking and unemployment appears to be driven by stable, unobserved differences between employed and unemployed respondents.

Unemployment and its association with health-relevant actions: investigating the role of time perspective with German census data.

OBJECTIVE: In this study, we seek to explain how unemployment is related to an increase in health-damaging actions. A short time perspective, that is an orientation towards the present rather than the future, is hypothesised to account for this effect. The concept of time perspective is located within an action theoretical framework and the hypothesis is tested empirically. METHODS: We investigated the unemployed people's smoking behaviour and body-mass index (BMI) using German microcensus data from 2003. Data from 77,766 respondents (88.60% employed and 11.40% unemployed) were analysed. Multivariate regression analysis was applied to test our hypotheses. RESULTS: Unemployment is associated with a 46% higher probability to smoke and with a 0.37 unit increase in BMI compared to employment. The likelihood of smoking steadily increases with the duration of unemployment, while only unemployment spells of 4 years and longer are significantly related to BMI. Yet, the smoking probability of those unemployed who have a long time perspective is 74% lower and their BMI is 1.81 lower than those who do not have a long time perspective. CONCLUSION: Unemployment is negatively associated with health-relevant actions. This effect varies according to persons' time perspectives. Our approach delivers an innovative view on why unemployed individuals exercise more health-damaging actions than the employed.