Reasons for and consequences of ethnic differences in parental support during the transition to vocational training in Germany

In this article, we examine reasons for ethnic differences in parental support at the transition to vocational training in Germany and their consequences for the likelihood of finding a training position and the likelihood of premature training termination. We extend previous research by focusing on three different types of parental support: help with writing applications, information about open training positions and efforts towards getting their children a position. Using longitudinal data from Starting Cohort 4 of the German National Educational Panel Study, we show that part of ethnic differences in these types of support can be explained by measures of ethnicity-related background characteristics. Moreover, the relations of receiving country–specific resources to parental support propensities seem to be domain specific. Furthermore, we find that only minority trainees benefit from writing support in terms of finding training and training success. In contrast, if parents made efforts to get their children a position, both minority and majority school leavers are less likely to start training and, in the case of majority trainees, to finish training successfully. These are important findings, as they give new insights into the reasons for ethnic disadvantages in parental support during the transition to vocational training and into the relation of different types of parental support to training search success and premature termination risks.