Abstract: The present study investigates the extent to which cognitive abilities and personality traits are passed on from parents to their children during adolescence and young adulthood in Germany. Representative data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) indicate a higher level of intergenerational transmission of cognitive abilities than of personality traits. The older children become, the more their cognitive abilities resemble those of their parents.
An international comparison between Germany, Scandinavia, and the US shows that differences in the intergenerational transmission of abilities cannot explain the different degrees of social mobility - the correlation between the socio-economic status of parents and children - in these countries. Thus, differences in the social structure of society are the main reason for the extent of intergenerational social permeability in those three countries.
The complete publication in German by Silke Anger in:
DIW Wochenbericht 29/2012 (PDF, 459.17 KB)