The Intergenerational Transmission of Digital Advantage: How Vertical and Horizontal Dimensions of Social Origin Shape Children's Digital Skills

Children from privileged families consistently achieve higher digital skills than their less privileged peers, yet the mechanisms underlying this digital divide remain incompletely understood. This study examines how vertical dimensions (socioeconomic status and parental education) and horizontal dimensions (parental STEM occupation) of social origin independently shape children's digital skills and through which mechanisms these associations operate. Using longitudinal data from the German National Educational Panel Study (N=3,772), we employ autoregressive path models to analyse digital skill development from grade 6 to grade 9. Our findings reveal that all three dimensions independently predict digital competencies, but operate through distinct mechanisms and follow different developmental trajectories. Vertical differences in socioeconomic status are mediated by status-maintenance motives, while educational differences operate through the home learning environment. Horizontal differences by parental STEM occupation show weak mediation through vocational interests. Crucially, vertical disparities are already pronounced in grade 6 and grow slightly thereafter, whereas horizontal differences nearly double from grade 6 to grade 9. These patterns suggest that vertical differences largely emerge before adolescence and then stabilize, while horizontal differences fully manifest during adolescence itself. Our study demonstrates that social origin is multifaceted, with different dimensions mattering in independent and temporally distinct ways for the intergenerational transmission of digital advantage.