HOW DOES SIZE OF SIBSHIP MATTER - FAMILY CONFIGURATION AND FAMILY EFFECTS ON EDUCATIONAL-ATTAINMENT

Using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study for full sibships of sizes two to five, we estimate models of the effects of social backgro und, size of sibship, and gender on sibling resemblance in educational attainment. We find no differences in educational attainment by gende r composition within those family sizes. Smaller sibships obtain more schooling, and men obtain more schooling than women. Smaller families are more heterogeneous than larger families, but the effects of measur ed social background characteristics do not vary by size of sibship or gender composition of sibship. The effects of social background varia bles on the schooling of women are uniformly smaller than among men, a nd the nonshared (within-family) variations in schooling are much smal ler among women than among men. These findings could lead to incorrect inferences that families matter more for women than for men or that l arge families experience more varied outcomes than small families. (C) 1997 Academic Press.