Manuel Mejías Leiva

I am a sociologist from the Pablo de Olavide University and I have a PhD in Transdisciplinary Research in Education from the University of Valladolid. I also have a Master’s degree in Political and Electoral Analysis from the University Carlos III of Madrid and a Master’s degree in Data Science from the Antonio de Nebrija University.

My research interests focus on families, educational inequality and the intergenerational transmission of (dis)advantages. I have also worked on issues such as child poverty, youth emancipation and gender inequalities in childhood and adolescence. In my research I use quantitative methods and I am currently deepening the use of causal inference designs.

My work has been published in journals such as Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas, Genus and International Journal of Sociology of Education, among others. You can consult my publications and profile in Google Scholar, where most of my research is available in open access.

selected publications

Divorcio de los padres y logro educativo de los niños a largo plazo en España: heterogeneidad según la educación de los padres

Manuel Mejías-Leiva, and Almudena Moreno Mínguez

Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas, Jul 2023

Abs DOI

This paper analyses the association between parental divorce during childhood and children’s university attainment in Spain, based on parental socioeconomic status. For this, linear probability models were estimated, using data from the Spanish General Social Surveys of 2013, 2015 and 2017. The results suggest a negative association between parental divorce and the probability of children obtaining university degrees, with a higher penalty occurring when the divorce occurs when the child is aged 0-5 or 12-16 years. Moreover, the penalty of divorce on the probability of obtaining a university degree is higher for children of parents having a high socioeconomic status.
School absence of adolescents from single-parent families in Andalusia (Spain): exploring the mediating and moderating role of economic and social resources

Manuel Mejías-Leiva, and Almudena Moreno Mínguez

Genus, Apr 2024

Abs DOI

This study examines the relationship between growing up in single-parent families and school absence in Andalusia (Spain), considering differences according to ado‑lescents’ social background. Empirical analyses of data from the Social Survey 2010: Education and Housing show that adolescents growing up in single-parent families have, on average, a higher number of school absences than their peers in two-parent families. These disadvantages are greater for adolescents with low social backgrounds, regardless of whether this is measured by parental education or housing tenure. Both economic resources (lower household income) and social resources (poor relation‑ship with absent parent) partially explain the differences in school absence rates amongst adolescents growing up in single-parent families. School environment (teacher–student relationship, atmosphere amongst students, experiences of school violence or ownership of educational institution) are not influential in explaining educational disadvantage amongst adolescents from different family structures, although they are strong predictors of school absence.