Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/193398 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 12104
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We examine the relationship between parental ethnic identity and cognitive development in ethnic minority children. This aspect of parental identity may shape children's cognitive outcomes through a direct influence on parenting behaviour, or by mediating parental access to social resources. Drawing an ethnic minority sample from a detailed UK cohort study, we find a negative association between maternal majority identity and children's cognitive test scores. This result is driven by poor households, by those who lack local family support networks, and by those who mostly speak a foreign language at home. We suggest that differential access to social resources is the most persuasive explanation of this result. Differences in parenting behaviour do not seem to play an important role.
Subjects: 
ethnic identity
national identity
child development
JEL: 
I21
J13
J15
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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