The more books in the family and the richer and more educated the parents, the more likely it is that the children will do well at school.

At a time when industrially developed countries are facing migration pressure, Russia needs to take a fresh look at immigration to assess its geopolitical benefits and prevent inherent social risks; a smart migrant integration policy can provide a solution.

Youth in medium-sized and small towns who engage in after-school activities such as hobby clubs are less likely to drink alcohol. Generally, school-age youth in communities with higher educational levels, social and professional status are less vulnerable to alcohol abuse.

Russian small towns risk being depleted of young people, as three-quarters of school leavers are planning to migrate to regional centres, Moscow or St. Petersburg in search of a better life, while just 4% are prepared to stay in their home communities.

Families' limited cultural capital can hinder social mobility for their school-age childern and 'doom' them to a particular educational path. Academic performance being comparable, the chances of continuing studies in high school (grades 10 and 11) after nine years of secondary school are unequal for teenagers from families of different socioeconomic status. While children of well-educated and affluent parents usually go on to high school and then to college, their peers from working-class families often switch to vocational school despite good academic performance, thus maintaining socioeconomic inequality.

Maternal capital has helped increase birthrates in Russia, but its contribution to total fertility has been limited so far, with just 15 more children per 100 women of reproductive age, according to Fabian Slonimczyk and Anna Yurko, Associate Professors at the HSE International College of Economics and Finance. On the other hand, the proportion of women wishing to have more than one child has increased, and postponed births tend to occur sooner than planned, apparently influenced by the country's pro-fertility policies.

An elderly person can be described as aging successfully when they maintain good health and engage in fulfilling social activities. According to Larisa Kosova, Director of the HSE Joint Economic and Social Data Archive, poor health and a lack of savings often prevent older people in Russia from enjoying retirement.

Far from being passive, Muscovites – at least more than half of them – are more likely than residents of other Russian cities to join together with others in pursuit of a common cause, engage in civic campaigns online, and trust other people and non-profit organizations (NGOs). While in terms of offline civic engagement Muscovites do not differ much from the rest of the country, their activity can be encouraged by creating an appropriate infrastructure, according to Irina Mersiyanova, Director of the HSE Centre for Studies of Civil Society and Non-Profit Sector, and Irina Korneeva, Research Fellow of the same Centre.

Women who have moved to another part of the country tend to have higher fertility than those who stay in the same community all their lives. Relocation often improves a woman's life circumstances and broadens her choice of marriage partner, thus supporting her reproductive intentions, according to Svetlana Biryukova, Senior Research Fellow of the HSE Center for Studies of Income and Living Standards, and Alla Tyndik, Leading Research Fellow at the RANEPA.

Shadow education for high school students, such as private tutors or preparatory courses, is often treated by families as a mega-project requiring substantial investments of money and effort. Such investments, however, rarely pay off for underachieving students who are often unaware of the quality of shadow education and thus may choose the wrong providers. A study by Andrey Zakharov, Deputy Head of the HSE Institute of Education’s International Laboratory for Education Policy Analysis, and Prashant Loyalka, leading research fellow of the same Institute, has debunked some of the more popular myths concerning the effect of shadow education.

The Russian family has been becoming more demographically heterogeneous over recent years. Some of the families follow the trend of having many children: women more often give birth to a third and fourth child, and the gap between births is decreasing, which makes the evolution of the family faster. At the same time, younger generations are inclined to postpone marriage and having their first child, which leads either to later motherhood or to childlessness. This means that two opposite trends are developing; along with the growing share of ‘Western-type’ families, with postponed parenthood and fewer children, there is a revival of the traditional family with more children, Sergey Zakharov, Deputy Director of the HSE Institute of Demography, reported.

Many management students have difficulties predicting their career paths for the next five or ten years. Some of the students obviously have big hoped for their future and are confident about rapid career growth. They believe that by 30 they will be able to become top-level managers in medium and big organizations, and will never repeat the mistakes of their principals and teachers. Svetlana Satikova, Associate Professor at the Department of Management of HSE in St. Petersburg, studied the career expectations of future managers.