DOES THE GENDER COMPOSITION OF SIBSHIPS AFFECT WOMENS EDUCATIONAL-ATTAINMENT

Data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the November 1989 Curren t Population Survey, and the National Longitudinal Study of Women sugg est that women with sisters may have completed less schooling than,wom en without sisters. This hypothesis follows a long tradition of theori es about the effects of sibling number and configuration. There is rel atively weak evidence for this hypothesis in the analysis on which the findings are based. Analyses of the effects of sibling gender composi tion on educational attainment among cohorts of women in the Occupatio nal Changes in a Generation Survey, the Survey of Income and Program P articipation, and the National Survey of Families and Households offer no support for this hypothesis or for other related hypotheses about the effects of the gender composition of sibships.