Relationship between family’s socioeconomic status and parental investments in early learning: Evidence from the China family panel studies

Abstract

学前儿童家庭教育支出的差异可能造成儿童学习经历的差异,进而导致儿童发展能力及未来学业成就的不平等。基于对中国家庭追踪调查(2010—2016年)中6034名3～5岁儿童及其家庭数据的分析,本文检验了学前儿童家庭教育支出与家庭社会经济地位之间的关系。研究发现,3～5岁儿童每年幼儿园教育支出和园外教育支出分别占家庭收入的9%和0.3%。控制与儿童、家庭、区域相关的因素后发现,家庭收入及父母教育水平与幼儿园教育支出有微弱但显著的正性相关;家庭收入越低,教育支出占家庭收入的比例越高;城镇家庭的幼儿园教育支出及园外教育支出高于农村家庭;2010—2016年,幼儿园教育支出及其占家庭收入的比例越来越高。这意味着幼儿园教育已经逐渐成为每个幼儿家庭的必要支出,同时它可能对低收入家庭构成了经济负担。 The disparities in parental investment might result in inequality in children’s early learning experiences,which differentiate children’s early developmental outcomes and subsequent academic learning.This study examined the relation between family socioeconomic status(SES)and parental investment in early learning.Analyses based on 6034 three-to five-year-old children from the China Family Panel Studies(2010-2016)showed that parents,on average,spent 3200.99 yuan on every child’s preschool education and 93.57 yuan on enrichment activities.These two expenditures accounted for 9% and 0.3% of annual household income,respectively.Hierarchical linear modeling analyses indicated significant but modest associations among household income,parental education,and parental expenditure on children’s preschool education and enrichment activities.Poorer parents spent a larger percentage of their household incomes on their children than did wealthier parents.Urban parents invested more in their children’s early learning than did rural parents.From2010 to 2016,the amount of parental expenditure on preschool education and its ratio to household income increased consistently.The findings revealed that preschool education has been an important aspect of parental investment,and it might have added economic burden to lower-SES families.Potential explanations for and implications of the findings are discussed.