Parental Effect of Higher Education on Attitudes Towards Immigrants: A Family Approach

People with higher education hold more positive attitudes towards immigrants than those without. Previous studies have attempted to net out selection mechanisms to examine whether there is a causal effect of higher education on attitudes towards immigrants. However, parental higher education has been largely neglected as a likely source of this selection. Using UKHLS data on individuals and their parents for the UK and employing the khb decomposition model, we examine if and why parental education influences attitudes towards immigrants. First, we show that, net of individual educational attainment, individuals whose parents have a university degree are more likely to have more positive attitudes towards immigrants. More highly educated people have more positive attitudes, but parental education reinforces this association or compensates for low educational attainment. Second, we illustrate that the relationship between parental higher education and attitudes towards immigrants is mediated by two mechanisms: parental socialisation and individual education. In contrast, socio-economic positioning while growing up makes a negligible contribution. Our findings suggest that formative years are crucial for the development of attitudes towards immigrants later in life and that educational inequalities of today affect the attitudes towards immigrants of tomorrow.