Numerous research has been conducted to determine whether the family configuration can affect one’s intelligence and educational attainment.
Moshoeshoe uses the 2006 census data from Lesotho for children aged six to eighteen to test the negative birth order effects on children’s educational attainment in a developing country. He also further test how family wealth and gender bias within the country lead to the heterogeneities in birth order effects. He concludes that there is no evidence that family wealth can affect birth order effects on educational attainment whereas gender bias (preference for girls) does significantly affect birth order effects (Moshoeshoe, 2014).
The resource dilution hypothesis believes that the resources, especially parental time, within each family are limited and children share these family resources. Therefore, the first-born child would be able to enjoy the family resources all by herself before the birth of the second-born child. The increasing number of siblings will dilute the limited family resources within each family and thus later-born children are worse off compared with the first-born child. (Karwath et al., 2014) Furthermore, Karwath, Relikowski, and Schmitt employ the resource dilution hypothesis and examine the data from the interdisciplinary longitudinal study BiKS. Their findings show the negative effect of having a large number of siblings on children’s vocabulary competences. Nevertheless, having educated family members can compensate for this negative effect (Karwath et al., 2014)
Examining the entire population data of Norway, Black, Devereux, and Salvanes have found that the effect of family size on one’s educational attainment is negligible once the birth order is controlled. They then isolate the birth order effects by controlling family characteristics and find birth order effects are significant. By stratifying the dataset, they find that the birth order effects are stronger among individuals with more educated mothers (Black et al., 2005).
In this paper, I will primarily use the 2016 and 2017 American Community Survey (ACS) dataset. ACS dataset is collected by U.S. Census Bureau yearly over 3.5 million households in the United States. I restrict the sample to the households with 4 children or less. I am planning to test the significance of birth order effect on educational attainment with 2016 and 2017 American Community Survey dataset. I will then go further from the existing literature review by examining four possible sources of heterogeneity in birth order effect: family income, parental educational level, gender composition within the family, and inter-generational household. Specifically, the following research questions will be tested: (1) Do people from large household on average less likely to attend college? (2) Does birth order effects on one’s educational attainment exist once we control for family size? (3) If the birth order effect exists, whether the birth order effect on educational attainment varies across individuals with different household income level, parental educational level, gender composition within the family, and inter-generational household?
References:
Black, Sandra E, Paul J. Devereux, and Kjell G. Salvanes. 2005. “The More the Merrier? The Effect of Family Size and Birth Order on Children’s Education.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 2005. 670-698.
Karwath, Claudia, Ilona Relikowski, and Monja Schmitt. 2014. “Sibling structure and educational achievement: How do the number of siblings, birth order, and birth spacing affect children’s vocabulary competences?” Zeitschrift fur Familienforschung, 26. Jahrg., 2014, Heft 3/2014, S. 372-396.
Moshoeshoe, Ramaele. 2014. “Birth Order Effects on Educational Attainment and Child Labour: Evidence from Lesotho.” University of Cape Town Working Paper
Numerous research has been conducted to determine whether the family configuration can affect one’s intelligence and educational attainment.
Moshoeshoe uses the 2006 census data from Lesotho for children aged six to eighteen to test the negative birth order effects on children’s educational attainment in a developing country. He also further test how family wealth and gender bias within the country lead to the heterogeneities in birth order effects. He concludes that there is no evidence that family wealth can affect birth order effects on educational attainment whereas gender bias (preference for girls) does significantly affect birth order effects (Moshoeshoe, 2014).
The resource dilution hypothesis believes that the resources, especially parental time, within each family are limited and children share these family resources. Therefore, the first-born child would be able to enjoy the family resources all by herself before the birth of the second-born child. The increasing number of siblings will dilute the limited family resources within each family and thus later-born children are worse off compared with the first-born child. (Karwath et al., 2014) Furthermore, Karwath, Relikowski, and Schmitt employ the resource dilution hypothesis and examine the data from the interdisciplinary longitudinal study BiKS. Their findings show the negative effect of having a large number of siblings on children’s vocabulary competences. Nevertheless, having educated family members can compensate for this negative effect (Karwath et al., 2014)
Examining the entire population data of Norway, Black, Devereux, and Salvanes have found that the effect of family size on one’s educational attainment is negligible once the birth order is controlled. They then isolate the birth order effects by controlling family characteristics and find birth order effects are significant. By stratifying the dataset, they find that the birth order effects are stronger among individuals with more educated mothers (Black et al., 2005).
In this paper, I will primarily use the 2016 and 2017 American Community Survey (ACS) dataset. ACS dataset is collected by U.S. Census Bureau yearly over 3.5 million households in the United States. I restrict the sample to the households with 4 children or less. I am planning to test the significance of birth order effect on educational attainment with 2016 and 2017 American Community Survey dataset. I will then go further from the existing literature review by examining four possible sources of heterogeneity in birth order effect: family income, parental educational level, gender composition within the family, and inter-generational household. Specifically, the following research questions will be tested: (1) Do people from large household on average less likely to attend college? (2) Does birth order effects on one’s educational attainment exist once we control for family size? (3) If the birth order effect exists, whether the birth order effect on educational attainment varies across individuals with different household income level, parental educational level, gender composition within the family, and inter-generational household?
References:
Black, Sandra E, Paul J. Devereux, and Kjell G. Salvanes. 2005. “The More the Merrier? The Effect of Family Size and Birth Order on Children’s Education.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 2005. 670-698.
Karwath, Claudia, Ilona Relikowski, and Monja Schmitt. 2014. “Sibling structure and educational achievement: How do the number of siblings, birth order, and birth spacing affect children’s vocabulary competences?” Zeitschrift fur Familienforschung, 26. Jahrg., 2014, Heft 3/2014, S. 372-396.
Moshoeshoe, Ramaele. 2014. “Birth Order Effects on Educational Attainment and Child Labour: Evidence from Lesotho.” University of Cape Town Working Paper