Social stratification across three generations: New evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study

While two-generation studies provide important insights into how social and economic advantages and disadvantages are passed from one generation to the next, much less attention has been paid to stratification over three or more generations. In a regression analysis of several thousand parents who graduated from Wisconsin high schools in 1957, we found that the schooling, occupational status, and income of grandparents have few significant effects on the educational attainment or occupational status of their grandchildren when parents' characteristics are controlled. Even when we consider both maternal and paternal grandparents and account for errors in variables, the data are not consistent with the hypothesis that grandparents' schooling, occupational statuses, or incomes directly affect grandchildren's educational or occupational attainments.