DO PARENTS SOCIAL ACTIVITIES PROMOTE CHILDRENS SCHOOL ATTAINMENTS - EVIDENCE FROM THE GERMAN SOCIOECONOMIC PANEL

Using longitudinal data from the German Socioeconomic Panel, we invest igate whether parental activities, such as attending cultural events, doing volunteer work, and socializing with friends, promote the educat ional attainments of children. These parental activities may constitut e a beneficial form of social capital. On the other hand, they may red uce the amount of time parents spend with their children. We find sign ificant linkages between a subset of fathers' activities and the attai nments of children-especially boys-with positive effects for fathers' engaging in active sports and volunteer work, but negative effects for socializing with friends. Most of the effects of mothers' activities can be accounted for by differences in the family's socioeconomic stat us.