Using Linked-administrative Data to Examine the Impact of Parental Disability on Child Attainment

Background
Little is known about the educational attainment of children of parents with disabilities, leaving them vulnerable to education inequalities. Existing evidence from other countries on the associations between parental disability and children's educational outcomes is inconsistent, and the observed associations also vary by demographic, geographic, and socioeconomic factors.
This study aims to fill this research gap by using the Growing Up in England linked-administrative dataset to examine the impact of parental disability on child attainment. Administrative data have strengths of large scale, high population coverage, low non-response and attrition rates, and multilevel data across domains, facilitating analysis on hard-to-reach populations. It is also important to shift the deficit-oriented focus in previous disability studies to the interplay between vulnerability and adjustment across life-course development. Thus, this study also aims to explore these children's educational attainment from childhood through late adolescence and subgroups that show vulnerability or resilience under the impact of parental disability.
Research Questions
1. How do parental disability together with personal, household and social characteristics affect child attainment?
2. What are the developmental trajectories of child attainment in the context of parental disability from childhood through late adolescence?
3. What are the potential subgroups of children that show vulnerability or resilience in educational outcomes under the impact of parental disability?
Methodology
The Growing Up in England (GUiE) linked administrative dataset will be used (Office for National Statistics, 2022). GUiE Wave-1 links 2011 Census to the feasibility All Education Dataset for England, connecting personal, familial, and household information with educational attainment data. Individuals aged between 10 and 25 years on 31 August 2011 are included in the GUiE if they were educated in England from the academic years 2001-02 to 2014-15. Wave-2 joins five vulnerability datasets (i.e. absences, exclusions, English School Census, Children in Need, and Children Look After) covering the academic years 2010-11 to 2014-15 to the Wave-1 dataset.
Research questions will be addressed through advanced quantitative methods. First, the distribution of variables will be analysed through descriptive statistics. Then, with multilevel modelling, this study can better account for the impact of parental disability on child outcomes by considering the potential stratification of social, health and geographical inequalities. To further assess change, it plans to use data-driven approaches (e.g. latent growth modelling) to identify potential educational sub-groups/trajectories of these children based on patterns of changes across different time points in the data.
Supervisory Team
This research project through an ESRC/ADR UK/SGSSS initiative will be supervised by Dr Jasmin Wertz (University of Edinburgh), Dr Bonnie Auyeung (University of Edinburgh) and Dr Louise Marryat (University of Dundee), who are experts in child development with advanced quantitative research skills.
Conclusion
To the researcher's knowledge, this is the first study to use GUiE linked-administrative data to examine the impact of parental disability on child attainment within the UK. It may contribute to a deeper understanding of how vulnerable children thrive in the potential intergenerational transmission of disability and may draw implications for educational and family policy and practices.