Envisioning the Invisibility: Sibling Effects on Cognitive Development

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Eighteen
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Analyses: Sociopolitical and Sociocultural Contexts (Table 2)

Abstract

This paper examines the sibling effects in explaining children’s educational attainment. Using PSID-CDS 2014 data and employing a structural equation modeling approach, this paper examined to what extent younger siblings’ educational achievements can be attributed to the sibling effect as well as the heterogeneous effects of sibship structures on younger children’s cognitive attainments. Results indicated that higher cognitive achievement for older siblings could induce better cognitive outcomes for younger siblings. Also, more family emotional support was associated with higher math achievement for younger children. The analysis of heterogeneous effects suggested no systematic difference in the effects of relevant measures on younger children’s cognitive achievements across different sex compositions of sibling pairs.

Author

• Xue Gong, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author