The majority of studies on social and educational mobility neglect the
role of the extended family. We argue that this misses important ways in
which extended family members may help compensate disadvantage in
children’s immediate family. Moreover, existing studies on extended
family members have focused on grandparents, with only a couple of
studies considering aunts and uncles. We examine the role of both
grandparents’ and aunts and uncles’ resources in Finland and the United
States using longitudinal panel data (Finnish Census Panel and the Panel
Study for Income Dynamics (PSID)). Our results suggest that aunts and
uncles’ resources contribute more than those of grandparents. Moreover,
we find evidence for extended family compensation in completing upper
secondary education and the avoidance of low pay in both countries. The
results suggest that compensation by aunts and uncles takes place for
the avoidance of marginalization and is particularly likely when both
parents and grandparents have low resources.