TRENDS IN FAMILY EFFECTS ON THE EDUCATION OF BLACK-AND-WHITE BROTHERS

Among Black and White men born from 1907 to 1946, family background ac counts for at least half the variance in educational attainment. Paren tal schooling, father's occupational status, size of sibship, intact f amily, farm background, and southern birth account for no more than ha lf this common family effect. Family background has smaller effects on the attainments of younger than of older brothers. The effects of bot h measured and unmeasured family background characteristics on the edu cational attainments of Black and White men have declined. Among Black s, there has been a similar decline in the effects of all measured fam ily background characteristics, while among Whites, the decline is lim ited to farm background, intact family, and southern birth. The global , secular decline in inequality of educational attainments cuts across all sources of variation in schooling-measured and unmeasured common family characteristics and unmeasured individual characteristics.