Marry up, rise up: the spillover effect of marrying up on students’ cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes

Patterns of marital matching play a central role in shaping social mobility and the intergenerational transmission of inequality. Using data from a nationally representative dataset of randomly assigned junior high school classes in China, this study examines how peers’ parental hypergamy influences students’ outcomes. We find that higher parental hypergamy rates significantly increase students’ cognitive outcomes and non-cognitive skills. These effects are particularly pronounced among students from less-rich families and students with rural hukou. Mechanisms driving these outcomes include increased parental involvement and student motivation, better classroom climates and higher teacher attention. Our findings contribute new evidence on how peer socio-economic backgrounds shape the formation of human capital across generations.