Who’s your daddy? A comparison of intergenerational mobility of socioeconomic status for sons and daughters.

Abstract

Intergenerational mobility is of immense interest to social scientists, in part due to the persistence of the quest for the “American Dream”. Intergenerational mobility is a gauge of the opportunities each group has to increase their privilege, class, and income. In addition, mobility helps researchers understand the way our society creates class structures. Many studies have addressed intergenerational mobility, focusing on socioeconomic status (SES) of the fathers and its effect on their sons. Other studies have looked at father’s effect on son’s and daughter’s occupational mobility. The effect of father’s SES on daughter’s SES has been overlooked thus far. This study examined the intergenerational mobility of SES and if there are differences in the transmission of father’s SES to their sons and daughters. Secondary data analysis of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979-2002) was used for the analysis. An alternative model was created in order to examine three sets of relevant theories; individual, structural, and gender-level. Univariate, bivariate and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression were utilized for analysis. Bivariate analysis shows that men have higher SES than women. OLS regression results indicate that father’s SES has a positive effect on their children’s SES, net of other factors, but no statistical difference was found between sons and daughters.