Educational Mobility in the Developing World

This chapter reviews the small but growing literature on intergenerational educational mobility in the developing world. Education is a critical determinant of economic wellbeing, and it predicts a range of nonpecuniary outcomes such as marriage, fertility, health, crime, and political attitudes. We show that developing nations feature stronger intergenerational educational persistence than high-income countries, in spite of substantial educational expansion in the last decades. We consider variations in mobility across gender and region, and discuss the macro-level correlates of educational mobility in developing countries. The chapter also discusses the literatures on concepts and measurement of educational mobility, theoretical perspectives to understand educational mobility across generations, and the role that education plays in the economic mobility process, and it applies these literatures to understand educational mobility in the developing world.

TRANSNATIONAL EDUCATIONAL MOBILITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION: AN INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

Анализируется опыт зарубежной высшей школы в формировании транснациональной образовательной мобильности. Представлены эмпирические результаты исследований зарубежных ученых, занимающихся данной проблематикой. На примере Великобритании, США, Китая, Австралии и стран Западной Европы показана роль образовательной мобильности в формировании транснационального человеческого и культурного капитала, влияние образовательной мобильности на проектирование индивидуального образовательного и карьерного маршрута человека. Транснациональная образовательная мобильность рассматривается в контексте формирования культурного капитала как приобретение международного опыта, расширение языковых и профессиональных знаний, развитие социальных и межкультурных навыков, способствующих созданию новой культурной идентичности и укреплению транснациональной идентификации личности. Подчеркивается, что с развитием транснациональной образовательной мобильности в научно-педагогической литературе появляется термин «международная профессиональная компетенция», связанный с формированием сквозных навыков (transversal skills) человека. An international review of the formation of transnational educational mobility in higher education abroad is analyzed. The research results by foreign scientists dealing with this empirical issue are presented. The role of educational mobility in the formation of transnational human and cultural capital, the influence of educational mobility on the formation of an individual educational and career path of a person is shown on the example of such countries as: Great Britain, USA, China, Australia and Western European countries. Transnational educational mobility is considered in the context of the formation of cultural capital as the acquisition of international experience, the expansion of linguistic and professional knowledge, the development of social and intercultural skills that contribute to the creation of a new cultural identity and the strengthening of transnational identity, personality identification. Giving rise to cosmopolitanism, person’s educational mobility contributes to the creation of a new cultural identity and transnational identification strengthening. A man who is able to see and understand intercultural differences, to solve intercultural problems, is able to form his identity in the context of intercultural and multicultural relations. It is emphasized that with the development of transnational educational mobility, the term “international professional competence” appears in the scientific and pedagogical literature, associated with the formation of transversal personality skills. Transversal skills are analyzed as basic skills, independent of a person’s professional qualifications and not tied to any particular profession, but are applicable to a wide range of situations in life. It is emphasized that the strengthening of cross-border educational mobility is observed not only in the public sector of higher education, but also in the private sector, which contributes to an increase in the number of educational institutions leading to the expansion of availability of higher education and obtaining various academic degrees and titles.

Educational Mobility Through Marriage and Risk of Cognitive Impairment in Late Life

Objectives Marriage represents a long-term intimate relationship involving high levels of interaction and shared resources. Education, as an inter-individual resource, may influence the health status of an individual and his/her spouse. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of educational mobility through marriage on the risk of cognitive impairment in older adults. Methods Data were derived from the 2014 wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. The final sample included 1,396 married men and 671 married women aged 65 years and older. Cognitive impairment was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE). The gender-specific effect of educational mobility on the risk of cognitive impairment was tested by logistic regression analyses. Results Older men who experienced downward educational mobility through marriage had a higher risk of cognitive impairment, when compared to their upwardly mobile counterparts. This association was not observed in women. Having more years of schooling protected both men and women from being cognitive impaired in late life. Discussion These findings provide further evidence that downward socioeconomic mobility through marriage is associated with adverse health outcomes. Yet, the impact of spousal education on health must be understood through the lens of gender. Potential mechanisms that may link spousal education to cognition over the life course were discussed, including health literacy, health behaviors, and household resources.

Educational Mobility and Age-Related Decrements in Kidney Function Across Adulthood Among Black and White Adults

This paper examines the association between educational mobility and age-related decrements in kidney function. Data from the main survey and the Biomarker Project of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Wave 2 and Refresher samples were combined, resulting in 1,861 adults (54.5% female; age 25-84, Mage=53.37) who self-identified as non-Hispanic Black (n=326) and non-Hispanic white (n=1,535). The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was based on serum creatinine, calculated using the CKD-EPI formula. Intergenerational educational mobility was based on the comparison between parental education (no high school/HS degree versus HS degree or higher) and participant’s education level (HS degree or lower versus some college versus bachelor’s degree or higher). Results from regression analysis indicated that Black participants in the moderate upward mobility group (parental education = no HS degree, participant’s education = some college) showed significantly steeper age-related decrements in eGFR across adulthood compared to Black adults with higher stable high status (parental education = HS degree or higher, participant’s education = bachelor’s degree or higher), B=-0.70, SE=0.26, p=.008, or white adults with higher stable high status, B= 0.58, SE=0.29, p=.044. A steeper age-related decrement in eGFR is known as a reliable risk factor for chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. These findings support the notion of skin-deep resilience among Black adults who experience upward socioeconomic mobility. We explored multiple psychosocial factors that may explain these findings, including lifetime and daily discrimination, social status and financial strains, and perceived stress and depressive symptoms.

Social mobility and biological aging among older adults in the United States

Lower socioeconomic status is associated with faster biological aging, the gradual and progressive decline in system integrity that accumulates with advancing age. Efforts to promote upward social mobility may therefore extend healthy lifespan. However, recent studies suggest that upward mobility may also have biological costs related to the stresses of crossing social boundaries. We analyzed blood-chemistry and DNA methylation (DNAm) data from n=9286 participants in the 2016 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) Venous Blood Study to test associations of life-course social mobility with biological aging. We quantified social mobility from childhood to later-life using data on childhood family characteristics, educational attainment, and wealth accumulation. We quantified biological aging using three DNA methylation "clocks" and three blood-chemistry algorithms. We observed substantial social mobility among study participants. Those who achieved upward mobility exhibited less-advanced and slower biological aging. Associations of upward mobility with less-advanced and slower aging were consistent for blood-chemistry and DNAm measures of biological aging and were similar for men and women and for Black and White Americans (Pearson-r effect-sizes ~0.2 for blood-chemistry measures and the DNAm GrimAge clock and DunedinPoAm pace-of-aging measures; effect-sizes were smaller for the DNAm PhenoAge clock). Analysis restricted to educational mobility revealed differential effects by racial identity, suggesting that mediating links between educational mobility and healthy aging may be disrupted by structural racism. In contrast, mobility producing accumulation of wealth appeared to benefit White and Black Americans equally, suggesting economic intervention to reduce wealth inequality may have potential to heal disparities in healthy aging.

Occupational and Educational Mobility Among Indian Muslims: Primary Survey-Based Evidence

Based on information obtained from 590 father–son pairs as part of the primary survey, this article discusses the issue of occupational and educational mobility among Indian Muslims. Intergenerational occupational and educational mobility and aggregate mobility measures have been analysed using mobility matrices. It uses a linear regression for education mobility and a multinomial logit model for occupational mobility to analyse the potential variables that are likely to influence sample households’ educational and occupational choices. The key finding is that educational mobility is much greater than occupational mobility and that half of the sons adhere to their fathers’ occupational categories. The results further show that the father’s occupation has a strong influence on the son’s educational achievement. It is recommended that the home, societal, peer pressure and the surroundings all be used to improve the educational outcome of the children. This study exhibits that Muslims’ perceptions of discrimination are substantially higher than their actual experiences, which stress the need for significantly improving communication between the government, NGOs, political parties and Muslim community leaders.