Educational inequality has been largely examined through nuclear family-based research, yet the role of extended family members, especially grandparents, remains underexplored (Mare, 2011). This book investigates grandparental effects on grandchildren’s educational outcomes in China, where three-generation co-residence prevails and grandparental involvement in childcare remains intensive. Results reveal that grandchildren with better-educated grandparents perform better in school, with household educational investment as a key mediator. Grandchildren also benefit academically from higher educational expectations among low-SES grandmothers, and from consistent authoritative parents and grandparents. This book suggests that educational inequality research should move beyond the parent-child dyad and explore the role of grandparents in the intergenerational reproduction of educational inequality.

Nuo Hou completed her doctoral research at the Faculty of Education, University of Hamburg. Her work focuses on the sociology of education and family, social inequality, and quantitative methods, with an emphasis on multigenerational stratification, educational inequality, gender inequality, and migration in China.