Ethnic Differences in Social Capital Mobilization at the Transition to Vocational Training in Germany

In this chapter, we provide an in-depth analysis of the differences between students with and without a migration background in Germany in mobilising social capital during the transition to vocational education and training (VET) after lower secondary education. Besides retrospective information, we analyse (hypothetical) prospective information. Furthermore, we distinguish between different kinds of social contacts and different types of support. Using data from the first five waves of starting cohort 4 (9th graders) of the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) we find that students rely heavily on their social contacts, with parents playing the most important role. Regarding general information and support, we find only small ethnic differences in the mobilization of non-institutional social contacts. In contrast, adolescents with a migration background tend to receive specific assistance less often from relatives outside the nuclear family and substantively less often from parents. Our results suggest that the general motivation of non-institutional social contacts to provide support at the transition to VET does not differ between natives and migrants, but that the ability of these ties to provide more specific, instrumental assistance depends on their receiving-country-specific resources and thus on their migration history.