The intergenerational transfer of numeracy skills: research report

The purpose of this report is to investigate the intergenerational transmission of numeracy, that is, the relationship between parent and child numeracy skills. The current study uses data from [1970 British Cohort Study] BCS70 to investigate the specific role of the impact of parents' numeracy on their children's numeracy. Relationships between parental numeracy and child numeracy are explored using bivariate analysis and regression analysis. Bivariate analyses produces surprising results – for example, school-aged children of parents with qualifications at Level 3 and above had lower average numeracy scores than children of parents with qualifications at Level 2 and below. However, in controlling for other factors through OLS regression, all of these surprising results disappear. Higher parental numeracy levels are associated with higher child numeracy scores, even when controlling for all relevant factors available in the dataset. In other words, even if two parents have the same income, occupational status, qualifications, and so on, if one parent has a higher numeracy level, his or her child is likely to have a higher numeracy score. This study also finds a greater association between fathers' numeracy skills and those of their children. In particular, there is a relatively strong relationship between the numeracy skills of fathers and their school-aged children.

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