Family background consistently affects economic success across the life cycle: A research note on how brother correlations overlap over the life course
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Family background consistently affects economic success across the life cycle : A research note on how brother correlations overlap over the life course. / Karlson, Kristian Bernt.
In: British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 75, No. 3, 2024, p. 347-353.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Family background consistently affects economic success across the life cycle
T2 - A research note on how brother correlations overlap over the life course
AU - Karlson, Kristian Bernt
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Authors. The British Journal of Sociology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of London School of Economics and Political Science.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Scholars of social mobility increasingly study the role of family background in shaping attainment throughout the entire life course. However, research has yet to establish whether the family characteristics influencing early career attainment are the same as those influencing late career attainment. In this research note, I apply an extended sibling correlation approach to analyze brothers’ life cycle earnings and family income, using data from the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. My analysis reveals a near-perfect correlation in the family characteristics that affect attainment at early, mid, and late career stages. This finding has significant implications for how mobility scholars conceptualize the impact of family background across a career. It suggests that family background forms a single, consistent dimension in determining attainment throughout the life course. Further analysis also indicates that the imperfect relationship between current and lifetime income is exclusively driven by within-family processes.
AB - Scholars of social mobility increasingly study the role of family background in shaping attainment throughout the entire life course. However, research has yet to establish whether the family characteristics influencing early career attainment are the same as those influencing late career attainment. In this research note, I apply an extended sibling correlation approach to analyze brothers’ life cycle earnings and family income, using data from the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. My analysis reveals a near-perfect correlation in the family characteristics that affect attainment at early, mid, and late career stages. This finding has significant implications for how mobility scholars conceptualize the impact of family background across a career. It suggests that family background forms a single, consistent dimension in determining attainment throughout the life course. Further analysis also indicates that the imperfect relationship between current and lifetime income is exclusively driven by within-family processes.
KW - brothers
KW - family background
KW - life course
KW - life cycle
KW - sibling correlation
KW - social mobility
U2 - 10.1111/1468-4446.13081
DO - 10.1111/1468-4446.13081
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 38281272
AN - SCOPUS:85183633249
VL - 75
SP - 347
EP - 353
JO - British Journal of Sociology
JF - British Journal of Sociology
SN - 0007-1315
IS - 3
ER -
ID: 387073062