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Family Size, Cognitive Outcomes, and Familial Interaction in Stable, Two-Parent Families: United States, 1997–2002

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  • John Sandberg
  • Patrick Rafail

Abstract

Measures of children’s time use, particularly with parents and siblings, are used to evaluate three hypotheses in relation to the vocabulary and mathematical skills development: (1) the resource dilution hypothesis, which argues that parental and household resources are diluted in larger families; (2) the confluence hypothesis, which suggests that the intellectual milieu of families is lowered with additional children; and (3) the admixture (“no effect”) hypothesis, which suggests that the negative relationship between family size and achievement is an artifact of cross-sectional research resulting from unobserved heterogeneity. Each hypothesis is tested using within-child estimates of change in cognitive scores over time with the addition of new children to families. Copyright Population Association of America 2014

Suggested Citation

  • John Sandberg & Patrick Rafail, 2014. "Family Size, Cognitive Outcomes, and Familial Interaction in Stable, Two-Parent Families: United States, 1997–2002," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(5), pages 1895-1931, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:51:y:2014:i:5:p:1895-1931
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-014-0331-8
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sandra E. Black & Paul J. Devereux & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2010. "Small Family, Smart Family? Family Size and the IQ Scores of Young Men," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 45(1).
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    3. Dalton Conley & Rebecca Glauber, 2006. "Parental Educational Investment and Children’s Academic Risk: Estimates of the Impact of Sibship Size and Birth Order from Exogenous Variation in Fertility," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 41(4).
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    5. Joseph Price, 2008. "Parent-Child Quality Time: Does Birth Order Matter?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(1).
    6. John Sandberg & Sandra Hofferth, 2001. "Changes in children’s time with parents: United States, 1981–1997," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(3), pages 423-436, August.
    7. Suzanne Bianchi, 2000. "Maternal employment and time with children: Dramatic change or surprising continuity?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 37(4), pages 401-414, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kravdal, Øystein, 2016. "Expected and unexpected consequences of childbearing – a methodologically and politically important distinction that is overlooked," Memorandum 05/2016, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    2. Xiong, Feng & Zang, Leizhen & Zhou, Ling & Liu, Fei, 2020. "The effect of number of siblings and birth order on educational attainment: Empirical Evidence from Chinese General Social Survey," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    3. Sandra L. Hofferth & David S. Bickham & Jeanne Brooks-Gunn & Pamela E. Davis-Kean & Wei-Jun Jean Yeung, 2018. "Contributions of Research Based on the PSID Child Development Supplement," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 680(1), pages 97-131, November.
    4. Ea Hoppe Blaabæk & Mads Meier Jæger & Joseph Molitoris, 2020. "Family Size and Educational Attainment: Cousins, Contexts, and Compensation," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 36(3), pages 575-600, July.
    5. Philipp M. Lersch, 2019. "Fewer Siblings, More Wealth? Sibship Size and Wealth Attainment," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 35(5), pages 959-986, December.
    6. Shuang Chen, 2020. "Parental Investment After the Birth of a Sibling: The Effect of Family Size in Low-Fertility China," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(6), pages 2085-2111, December.

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