IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hka/wpaper/2020-053.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Does Sibling Gender Affect Personality Traits?

Author

Listed:
  • Bart Golsteyn

    (Maastricht University)

  • Cécile Magnée

    (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis)

Abstract

This paper studies whether sibling gender affects personality traits. We use the idea that if parents decide to have a second child, it is random whether they will have a boy or a girl. Therefore, the relationship between the second-born sibling's gender and the first sibling's personality traits is causal. We employ longitudinal data from a large British cohort which is followed from birth onwards. The dataset includes personality traits at age 10 and 16. Our main result is that oldest boys in a household are more agreeable if their next-born sibling is a girl. This effect is robust across age (10 and 16), when controlling for among others family size, and when applying corrections for multiple hypothesis tests. Agreeableness is an important trait in life as it has been shown to correlate positively among others with being employed, having a skilled job, savings, and life satisfaction.

Suggested Citation

  • Bart Golsteyn & Cécile Magnée, 2020. "Does Sibling Gender Affect Personality Traits?," Working Papers 2020-053, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    • Handle: RePEc:hka:wpaper:2020-053
    Note: IP
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://humcap.uchicago.edu/RePEc/hka/wpaper/Golsteyn_Magnee_2020_sibling-gender-personality-traits.pdf
    File Function: First version, July 2020
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter, Noemi & Lundborg, Petter & Webbink, Dinand, 2015. "The Effect of a Sibling's Gender on Earnings, Education and Family Formation," IZA Discussion Papers 9128, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. By Tyas Prevoo & Bas ter Weel, 2015. "The importance of early conscientiousness for socio-economic outcomes: evidence from the British Cohort Study," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 67(4), pages 918-948.
    3. Sandra E. Black & Paul J. Devereux & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2011. "Older and Wiser? Birth Order and IQ of Young Men," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 57(1), pages 103-120, March.
    4. Peter, Noemi & Lundborg, Petter & Mikkelsen, Sara & Webbink, Dinand, 2018. "The effect of a sibling’s gender on earnings and family formation," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 61-78.
    5. Golsteyn, Bart H.H. & Magnée, Cécile A.J., 2017. "Does birth spacing affect personality?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 92-108.
    6. V. Hotz & Juan Pantano, 2015. "Strategic parenting, birth order, and school performance," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(4), pages 911-936, October.
    7. Cools, Angela & Patacchini, Eleonora, 2019. "The brother earnings penalty," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 37-51.
    8. Laura Cyron & Guido Schwerdt & Martina Viarengo, 2017. "The effect of opposite sex siblings on cognitive and noncognitive skills in early childhood," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(19), pages 1369-1373, November.
    9. Robert Kaestner, 1997. "Are Brothers Really Better? Sibling Sex Composition and Educational Achievement Revisited," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 32(2), pages 250-284.
    10. Lena Detlefsen & Andreas Friedl & Katharina Lima de Miranda & Ulrich Schmidt & Matthias Sutter, 2018. "Are economic preferences shaped by the family context? The impact of birth order and siblings’ sex composition on economic preferences," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2018_12, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    11. Robert M. Hauser & Hsiang-Hui Daphne Kuo, 1998. "Does the Gender Composition of Sibships Affect Women's Educational Attainment?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 33(3), pages 644-657.
    12. Tom S. Vogl, 2013. "Marriage Institutions and Sibling Competition: Evidence from South Asia," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(3), pages 1017-1072.
    13. Kasey S. Buckles & Elizabeth L. Munnich, 2012. "Birth Spacing and Sibling Outcomes," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 47(3), pages 613-642.
    14. Neel Rao & Twisha Chatterjee, 2018. "Sibling gender and wage differences," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(15), pages 1725-1745, March.
    15. Kristin F. Butcher & Anne Case, 1994. "The Effect of Sibling Sex Composition on Women's Education and Earnings," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(3), pages 531-563.
    16. Anne Ardila Brenøe, 2018. "Origins of gender norms: sibling gender composition and women's choice of occupation and partner," ECON - Working Papers 294, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    17. Matthijs Kalmijn & Herman G van de Werfhorst, 2016. "Sibship Size and Gendered Resource Dilution in Different Societal Contexts," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(8), pages 1-16, August.
    18. Julia M. Rohrer & Boris Egloff & Stefan C. Schmukle, 2015. "Examining the Effects of Birth Order on Personality," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 807, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Esteban García-Miralles & Miriam Gensowski, 2020. "Are Children's Socio-Emotional Skills Shaped by Parental Health Shocks?," CEBI working paper series 20-21, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. The Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality (CEBI).
    2. Bianca Rochelle Parry & Errolyn Gordon, 2021. "The shadow pandemic: Inequitable gendered impacts of COVID‐19 in South Africa," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 795-806, March.
    3. Olgun Aydin & Cansu Altunbas & Elvan Hayat, 2021. "Using Text Mining Techniques to Understand the Economic Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(Special 4), pages 760-774.
    4. Daniel Fellman & Richard Bränström & Agneta Herlitz, 2021. "Revisiting a basic question: does growing up in either female or male environment affect sex differences in academic strengths and occupational choices?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Hirschman, Daniel, 2021. ""Controlling for what?" Folk economics, legal consciousness and the gender wage gap in the United States," SocArXiv j8pra, Center for Open Science.
    6. Iryna Hayduk & Maude Toussaint‐Comeau, 2022. "Determinants of noncognitive skills: Mediating effects of siblings' interaction and parenting quality," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(4), pages 677-694, October.
    7. Dudek, Thomas & Brenøe, Anne Ardila & Feld, Jan & Rohrer, Julia, 2022. "No Evidence That Siblings' Gender Affects Personality across Nine Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 15137, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Hensher, David A. & Beck, Matthew J., 2023. "Exploring how worthwhile the things that you do in life are during COVID-19 and links to well-being and working from home," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    9. Andrea Dominguez & Rocío Diez, 2022. "Gender Barriers in Academia: Perceptions of Inequality in Professional Development among Female Academics in the Faculty of Education, University of Alicante, Spain," Societies, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-12, November.
    10. Collins, Matthew, 2022. "Sibling Gender, Inheritance Customs and Educational Attainment: Evidence from Matrilineal and Patrilineal Societies," Working Papers 2022:5, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    11. Bonacini, Luca & Gallo, Giovanni & Scicchitano, Sergio, 2021. "Sometimes you cannot make it on your own. How household background influences chances of success in Italy," GLO Discussion Paper Series 832, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    12. Piero Esposito & Sergio Scicchitano, 2023. "Drivers of skill mismatch among Italian graduates: the role of personality traits," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(40), pages 4642-4663, August.
    13. Harris-Fry, Helen & Lamson, Lauren & Roett, Katelyn & Katz, Elizabeth, 2022. "Reducing gender bias in household consumption data: Implications for food fortification policy," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    14. Bao, Te & Yuan, Yuemei & Luo, Weidong & Xu, Bin, 2024. "Unlucky to have brothers: Sibling sex composition and girls’ locus of control," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anne Ardila Brenøe, 2022. "Brothers increase women’s gender conformity," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(4), pages 1859-1896, October.
    2. Collins, Matthew, 2022. "Sibling Gender, Inheritance Customs and Educational Attainment: Evidence from Matrilineal and Patrilineal Societies," Working Papers 2022:5, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    3. Anne Ardila Brenøe, 2018. "Origins of gender norms: sibling gender composition and women's choice of occupation and partner," ECON - Working Papers 294, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    4. Peter, Noemi & Lundborg, Petter & Mikkelsen, Sara & Webbink, Dinand, 2018. "The effect of a sibling’s gender on earnings and family formation," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 61-78.
    5. Yuli Ye & Qinying He & Qiang Li & Lian An, 2024. "The brother's penalty: Boy preference and girls' health in rural China," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(8), pages 1748-1771, August.
    6. Sandra E. Black & Erik Grönqvist & Björn Öckert, 2018. "Born to Lead? The Effect of Birth Order on Noncognitive Abilities," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 100(2), pages 274-286, May.
    7. 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).
    8. Bu, Feifei, 2014. "Sibling configurations, educational aspiration and attainment," ISER Working Paper Series 2014-11, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    9. Golsteyn, Bart H.H. & Magnée, Cécile A.J., 2017. "Does birth spacing affect personality?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 92-108.
    10. Peter, Noemi & Lundborg, Petter & Webbink, Dinand, 2015. "The Effect of a Sibling's Gender on Earnings, Education and Family Formation," IZA Discussion Papers 9128, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Karin Hoisl & Hans Christian Kongsted & Myriam Mariani, 2023. "Lost Marie Curies: Parental Impact on the Probability of Becoming an Inventor," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(3), pages 1714-1738, March.
    12. Daniel Fellman & Richard Bränström & Agneta Herlitz, 2021. "Revisiting a basic question: does growing up in either female or male environment affect sex differences in academic strengths and occupational choices?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, December.
    13. Cools, Angela & Patacchini, Eleonora, 2017. "Sibling Gender Composition and Women's Wages," IZA Discussion Papers 11001, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Black, Sandra E. & Devereux, Paul J. & Salvanes, Kjell G., 2016. "Healthy(?), wealthy, and wise: Birth order and adult health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 27-45.
    15. Dudek, Thomas & Brenøe, Anne Ardila & Feld, Jan & Rohrer, Julia, 2022. "No Evidence That Siblings' Gender Affects Personality across Nine Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 15137, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Goux, Dominique & Maurin, Eric, 2005. "The effect of overcrowded housing on children's performance at school," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(5-6), pages 797-819, June.
    17. de Haan, Monique, 2010. "Birth order, family size and educational attainment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 576-588, August.
    18. Solomon Tesfu & Shiferaw Gurmu, 2013. "Mother’s Gender Preferences and Child Schooling in Ethiopia," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 41(3), pages 265-277, September.
    19. Sandra E. Black & Paul J. Devereux & 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, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(2), pages 669-700.
    20. Rita Ginja & Jenny Jans & Arizo Karimi, 2020. "Parental Leave Benefits, Household Labor Supply, and Children’s Long-Run Outcomes," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(1), pages 261-320.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    sibling gender composition; personality traits;

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hka:wpaper:2020-053. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Jennifer Pachon (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/mfichus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.