Sibling Effects in Education

The relationship between sibling configuration—which includes the number of siblings, birth order, age spacing of siblings, and sex composition—has elicited a great deal of attention from education scholars, especially those interested in family dynamics and in how educational advantages or disadvantages are passed on across and within generations. Of the various components of sibling configuration, sibship size has been most consistently documented to be related to educational success: the larger the number of siblings, the lower the educational achievement and attainment. The evidence regarding educational consequences of the other measures of sibling structure has been more mixed or insufficient to yield firm conclusions. Recent scholarly efforts have turned to cross-national comparisons to explore the different contexts in which sibling structure wields its impact.