What does this research mean for the field?

Early parental death reduces a child's probability of entering a higher secondary school track, a penalty that is exacerbated if the deceased parent was highly educated and is not compensated by having a highly educated surviving parent. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.CONTRADICTORY. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.CHALLENGES_CONSENSUS.

What question did this study set out to answer?

This research explores how early parental death affects children's choices in secondary school tracks, particularly influenced by the parents' educational levels.

July 7, 2026Research in Social Stratification and MobilityOpen Access

Heterogeneous effects of parental death on secondary school track choice

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Authors

YJYuxuan Jin MKMatthijs Kalmijn HVHelga de Valk

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Overview

Randomized analysis examines educational track choices after parental death, indicating limited compensation from surviving parents’ education.

Key Points

This research explores how early parental death affects children's choices in secondary school tracks, particularly influenced by the parents' educational levels.
Analyzed administrative data on 1,773,894 children in the Netherlands from 1994 to 2023.
Identified 15,346 cases of parental death occurring before age 13.
Examined the relationship between parental death and secondary school track choice based on the education levels of both deceased and surviving parents.
Children who experienced early parental death had a lower likelihood of entering higher school tracks.
The negative impact on track choice was significantly greater if the deceased parent had tertiary education.
Having a tertiary-educated surviving parent did not mitigate the negative effects of the deceased parent’s death.

Cite This Study

Jin et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a5f1ef793a99557d97e4e79 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101180

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July 7, 2026Research in Social Stratification and MobilityOpen Access

Heterogeneous effects of parental death on secondary school track choice

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark

Authors

YJYuxuan Jin MKMatthijs Kalmijn HVHelga de Valk

Discussion

Member takes

Overview

Randomized analysis examines educational track choices after parental death, indicating limited compensation from surviving parents’ education.

Key Points

This research explores how early parental death affects children's choices in secondary school tracks, particularly influenced by the parents' educational levels.
Analyzed administrative data on 1,773,894 children in the Netherlands from 1994 to 2023.
Identified 15,346 cases of parental death occurring before age 13.
Examined the relationship between parental death and secondary school track choice based on the education levels of both deceased and surviving parents.
Children who experienced early parental death had a lower likelihood of entering higher school tracks.
The negative impact on track choice was significantly greater if the deceased parent had tertiary education.
Having a tertiary-educated surviving parent did not mitigate the negative effects of the deceased parent’s death.

Cite This Study

Jin et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a5f1ef793a99557d97e4e79 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101180

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