Supporting or Pushing Too Hard? The Impact of Parental Support on Overeducation in Poland
Supporting or Pushing Too Hard? The Impact of Parental Support on Overeducation in Poland

Summary/Abstract: While education plays a key role in shaping one’s future and especially career prospects, the benefits can be diminished byovereducation. Overeducation occurs when individuals who have completed higher education work in jobs that do not re-quire a degree. Given that educational paths are strongly influenced by family, this study investigates to what extent parentalsupport might be a cause of overeducation in Poland. Due to the specific Polish context, we examine how this relationshipis affected by a rural upbringing and the mother’s level of education. 2022 survey data reveal that increased parental sup-port leads to greater alignment of education and job requirements. However, for individuals raised in rural areas with highlyeducated mothers, the effect is the opposite: greater parental support decreases the likelihood of a job-education match. Ourfindings emphasise the importance of providing more institutional support in rural areas to help parents guide their childrenin making informed educational decisions that take into account the realities of both the labour and educational markets.

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