教育代际流动与中老年父代心理健康差异

Intergenerational Educational Mobility and the Difference of Mental Health of Middle-Aged and Elder Parents

基于相对教育水平的衡量方法,将教育代际流动模式分为九个类别,使用中国家庭追踪调查(CFPS)2012、2014和2016年数据研究教育代际流动是否且如何影响中老年父代的心理健康。研究发现,在强代际关系文化背景下,中国教育代际流动对中老年父代的心理健康具有显著影响;相对于低教育未流动者,子代教育向上流动的父代的相对优越感更强,心理健康程度更高;相对于高教育未流动者,子代教育向下长流动的父代相对剥夺感更强,心理健康程度更低。年龄组比较分析表明,年轻父代相对年老父代而言,子代教育长距离向上流动的心理健康正向效应较弱,但长距离向下流动的负向效应较强。进一步的中介机制分析表明,教育代际向上流动的父代对未来的信心和主观地位自评水平更高,心理健康水平也更优。因此,深化教育体制改革和市场机制改革,提升教育代际流动性,是推进中国教育高质量发展,有效改善中老年心理健康水平的重要途径。

How does inter-generational mobility of education effect the mental health of elder parents?Based on the measurement of relative education level,we divided the trajectories of inter-generational educational mobility into nine categories.Using data from the Chinese Family Panel Studies(CFPS)of 2012,2014,and 2016,we find that in the context of strong inter-generational relationships in China,inter-generational educational mobility has a significant impact on the mental health of middle-aged and elderly parents.Compared with low education stayers,those who with upward mobility in offspring’s education has stronger sense of superiority and better mental health.Meanwhile,compared with high education stayers,parents with downward mobility in children’s educational attainment has stronger sense of relative deprivation and worse mental health.In younger group,the health effect of long-distance upward mobility of offspring education is weaker,but the effect of long-distance downward mobility is stronger.Further analysis of the mediation mechanism shows that the parents with offspring’s upward educational mobility are more confidence with future life,having higher subjective status identification and better mental health.Therefore,deepening the reform of the education system and market mechanism and enhancing the inter-generational mobility of education are efficient ways to accelerate the high-quality development of education in China and improve the mental health of the middle-aged and elderly people.