Is the intergenerational transmission of high cultural activities biased by the retrospective measurement of parental high cultural activities?

In this article we study the bias caused by the conventional retrospective measurement of parental high cultural activities in the effects of parental high cultural activities and educational attainment on son’s or daughter’s high cultural activities. Multi-informant data show that there is both random measurement error and correlated error in the respondent’s report of parental high cultural activities. Correlated measurement error is the consequence of the fact that adult children who have higher rates of high cultural activities, report higher levels of parental cultural activities than the parents themselves do. When controls for both types of measurement error are included in structural models, the total intergenerational effect of parental high cultural activities appears to be larger than in a model without controls for measurement error, but the direct intergenerational effect is not biased if educational attainment is controlled for. The effect of educational attainment on high cultural activities is larger in models that correct for measurement error. In addition, the effect of educational attainment is stronger than the effect of parental high cultural activities, both with and without correction for measurement error.