Parents’ Educational Background and Child’s Learned Skills Are More Predictive for a Positive School Career than Earlier Parenting Behavior or Child’s Mental Health—Results from an 18-Year Longitudinal Observation Study

<b>Background/Objectives</b>: Developmental research has shown that mental health and functioning is determined by social background and child and family characteristics. Until now, there have been few longitudinal studies which considered several aspects at the same time and observed children's development over ten or more years. <b>Methods</b>: The aim of this 18-year-longitudinal study is to find out to which degree different child, family, and socioeconomic factors during early childhood (4 years of age) are associated with educational and professional outcomes in young adulthood (22 years of age). Of the initial sample of 280 participating families, 225 could again be investigated with standardized interviews and questionnaires at the 18 years follow-up (retention rate: 80%). <b>Results</b>: Educational degree of the parents was predictive of the child's school success (<i>β</i> = -0.267, <i>p</i> < 0.001, in regression analysis). Maternal mental health (<i>β</i> = -0.005, <i>p</i> = 0.953), parenting behavior (<i>β</i> = -021, <i>p</i> = 0.782), and early child mental health problems (<i>β</i> = 0.071, <i>p</i> = 0.551) only had a low impact. The child's sex did not predict school success. Better early learned skills (i.e., crystalline intelligence), but not cognitive skills, as measured by the child-specific intelligence test K-ABC, made children more likely to achieve good school-leaving grades (<i>β</i> = -0.240, <i>p</i> = 0.008). Children's early mental health problems had no relevant impact on school degree (<i>d</i> = 0.00, <i>p</i> = 0.934/<i>d</i> = 0.02, <i>p</i> = 0.52 3) or professional status (<i>d</i> = 0.04, <i>p</i> = 0.157/<i>d</i> = -0.02, <i>p</i> = 0.299) at age 22. <b>Conclusions</b>: Besides the not-changeable parental education level, (learnable) competency aspects may be more predictive of a child's educational success until young adulthood than earlier mental health problems in parents and children. This is good news as it supports the idea that mental health deficits can be compensated for through learning and competency training.