General information:

In the past, the prime focus has been on the monetary benefits of education for people’s future lives, such benefits being viewed mainly in the context of the acquisition of skills and the institutional framework. However, little or no systematic consideration has yet been given to the non-monetary benefits of education, such as the various aspects of well-being in children, adolescents and young adults. The EBWO Project will therefore be looking at potential changes in well-being at the key transition stages in life and examining how they correlate with educational resources available to families and the educational paths taken by children and adolescents.

Project objectives:

The project will be focusing on the following three issues:

1.     The relevance of educational resources for the well-being of parents and children at the transition to parenthood

2.     The relevance of educational resources available to parents and children for child well-being at the transition from primary school to secondary school

3.     The relevance of educational resources and educational paths for the well-being of adolescents and young adults at the transition to an apprenticeship, higher education or the world of work

Methodology

The three key issues will be examined on the basis of longitudinal data from three panel studies, namely the BELLA study[2], the pairfam panel[3]and the AID:A survey[4]. These three studies contain historical data on educational resources and changes thereto, various aspects of well-being and the relevant mediating factors involved. In addition to delivering representative, longitudinal data, these three data sets have the important advantage of being based upon a multi-actor approach, in which several persons from each household are surveyed on the same topics, thus allowing a comparison of the different perspectives. Initially, the individual data sets will be analysed independently of each other with respect to the various issues (regression and mediation analysis), and the results then linked and merged at a later date.

Partners

The project is being conducted in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Ravens-Sieberer[5](Professor of Health Science, Health Psychology and Healthcare of Children and Adolescents at the University Clinic of Hamburg-Eppendorf) and Prof. Dr. Brüderl[6](lecturer at the Institute of Sociology of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich).