Objectives:
The aim of the article is to examine the relationship between family environment, upbringing style and students’ research activity. Particular attention is paid to whether the family functions as a supportive background for academic development or rather shapes general dispositions related to duty, autonomy, control and a pragmatic understanding of education.

Material and methods:
The empirical material consists of the results of a survey conducted among 250 students representing different levels and fields of study. The analysis included respondents’ demographic characteristics, family attitudes toward education, dominant upbringing styles and the perceived influence of family background on current research activity.

Results:
The findings indicate that in many family homes education was understood primarily in instrumental terms: as an obligation, a path to employment or a means of future professional stability. The dominant model of upbringing was characterized by control and high expectations, with relatively limited presence of dialogue, trust, encouragement of independent thinking and support for activities going beyond compulsory learning.

Conclusions:
Students’ research activity cannot be interpreted solely as a simple continuation of inherited educational capital. In light of the findings, it appears rather as a space of autonomization, compensation and transgression of family-based patterns of thinking about education, especially where the family home provided mainly duty, control, indifference or professional pragmatism.