In Western countries, children's education is strongly influenced by their social background, which cannot be fully explained by individual differences in cognitive ability between social classes. It is still an open question how, to what extent and at what point along the educational path individual and family factors shape children's educational success. In the present study, twins (N = 6174) clustered in three age cohorts (11, 17 and 23 years) were examined using multilevel analyses to test if parental socioeconomic status (SES) and children's cognitive ability, as well as family's quality of home environment and children's self-efficacy can explain the development of educational inequalities captured via school track recommendations and university attendance. Results showed educational inequalities at each critical point along the entire path of education. With increasing parental SES, individual cognitive abilities mattered significantly less, so that children from high parental SES families often received a recommendation to attend upper secondary education even with low cognitive abilities. In contrast, the association between cognitive abilities and university attendance increased with increasing parental SES in the older age cohort, whereby individuals with high cognitive abilities but low parental SES rarely attended university. Furthermore, for school track recommendations, with increasing children's self-efficacy and better home environment the educational recommendation improved, while home environment amplified the effect of SES on the development of educational inequalities. These results suggest a waste of academic potential of low SES children. Subsequent studies should examine further constructs that could contribute to the development of educational inequalities.

在西方国家，儿童的教育受到其社会背景的强烈影响，而社会阶层之间的认知能力的个体差异无法完全解释儿童的教育。个体和家庭因素如何，在何种程度上以及在什么方向上影响儿童的教育成就，这仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。在本研究中，双胞胎（N 分为六个年龄组（11、17和23岁）的儿童（= 6174）进行了多级分析，以检验父母的社会经济地位（SES）和儿童的认知能力，以及家庭的家庭环境质量和儿童的自我效能感是否可以解释通过学校成绩推荐和大学出勤率发现的教育不平等现象的发展。结果表明，在整个教育过程中，每个关键点的教育均不平等。随着父母SES的增加，个人认知能力的重要性显着降低，因此，父母SES较高的家庭的孩子即使受到认知能力低的影响，也常常会被推荐接受高中教育。相比之下，认知能力与大学出勤率之间的关联随着年龄较大的父母SES的增加而增加，因此具有较高认知能力但父母SES较低的人很少上大学。此外，对于学校跑道建议，随着儿童自我效能的提高和更好的家庭环境，教育建议得到改善，而家庭环境则扩大了SES对教育不平等现象发展的影响。这些结果表明低SES儿童的学术潜力被浪费了。随后的研究应研究可能导致教育不平等发展的其他结构。随着儿童自我效能的提高和更好的家庭环境，教育建议得到改善，而家庭环境扩大了SES对教育不平等现象发展的影响。这些结果表明低SES儿童的学术潜力被浪费了。随后的研究应研究可能导致教育不平等发展的其他结构。随着儿童自我效能的提高和更好的家庭环境，教育建议得到改善，而家庭环境扩大了SES对教育不平等现象发展的影响。这些结果表明低SES儿童的学术潜力被浪费了。随后的研究应研究可能导致教育不平等发展的其他结构。