How Parenting Styles Shape Children’s Lifetime Outcomes

Thomas Dohmen, Bart Goldsteyn (), Hans Grönqvist, Edvin Hertegård () and Gerard Pfann ()
Additional contact information
Bart Goldsteyn: Maastricht University, Postal: Department of Economics and Statistics, School of Business and Economics, Linnaeus University, 351 95 Växjö, Sweden
Edvin Hertegård: SOFI, Stockholm University
Gerard Pfann: Maastricht University and University of Amsterdam

No 1/2026, Working Papers in Economics and Statistics from Linnaeus University, School of Business and Economics, Department of Economics and Statistics

Abstract: This study examines how parenting styles predict children’s lifetime outcomes. Using a Swedish dataset which combines rich survey information on parenting styles with administrative records tracking children over five decades, we find that authoritarian parenting is negatively associated with children’s long-term success, especially regarding their educational attainment. The results for other parenting styles are more mixed. Authoritarian parenting remains a robust predictor of adverse outcomes even when accounting for ability and family background. We identify children’s knowledge accumulation and parental educational expectations as key mechanisms explaining these results.

Keywords: Child Rearing; Human Capital; Skill Formation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I24 J13 J24 R20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2026-01-16
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ekonomihogskolan.lnu.se/vxesta/26-01_How_P ... ifetime_Outcomes.pdf Full text (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:vxesta:2026_001

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers in Economics and Statistics from Linnaeus University, School of Business and Economics, Department of Economics and Statistics Department of Economics and Statistics, School of Business and Economics, Linnaeus University, 351 95 Växjö, Sweden,. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Thomas Giebe ().