Outlier or Not? The Birth Order Effects on Educational Attainment in China

This study examines birth order effects in China using sibling fixed-effect models and cohort analysis. It reveals that birth order's net effect is negative when adjusting for educational expansion and gendered sibling structures. The findings resonate with Western patterns but challenge earlie...

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Main Author: Shoudeng Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Society for Sociological Science 2025-07-01
Series:Sociological Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://sociologicalscience.com/articles-v12-19-431/
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author Shoudeng Zhang
author_facet Shoudeng Zhang
author_sort Shoudeng Zhang
collection DOAJ
description This study examines birth order effects in China using sibling fixed-effect models and cohort analysis. It reveals that birth order's net effect is negative when adjusting for educational expansion and gendered sibling structures. The findings resonate with Western patterns but challenge earlier positive birth order effects documented in China. Notably, gender plays a significant role, as negative birth order effects are more pronounced in females due to gender preference in fertility and parenting. These complex findings highlight the necessity to explore the mechanisms behind birth order effects amid evolving societal norms and parental behaviors. Moreover, this study contributes novel insights by disentangling macro-level trends from birth order effects and deal with bias from sibling size and sibling gender structures by introducing newly designed adjusted birth order indices.
format Article
id doaj-art-f60edd79501b4dc3a95b7e2f8577bfea
institution Kabale University
issn 2330-6696
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publishDate 2025-07-01
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spelling doaj-art-f60edd79501b4dc3a95b7e2f8577bfea2025-08-20T03:32:55ZengSociety for Sociological ScienceSociological Science2330-66962025-07-01121943145510.15195/v12.a19Outlier or Not? The Birth Order Effects on Educational Attainment in ChinaShoudeng Zhang0Peking University, ChinaThis study examines birth order effects in China using sibling fixed-effect models and cohort analysis. It reveals that birth order's net effect is negative when adjusting for educational expansion and gendered sibling structures. The findings resonate with Western patterns but challenge earlier positive birth order effects documented in China. Notably, gender plays a significant role, as negative birth order effects are more pronounced in females due to gender preference in fertility and parenting. These complex findings highlight the necessity to explore the mechanisms behind birth order effects amid evolving societal norms and parental behaviors. Moreover, this study contributes novel insights by disentangling macro-level trends from birth order effects and deal with bias from sibling size and sibling gender structures by introducing newly designed adjusted birth order indices.https://sociologicalscience.com/articles-v12-19-431/birth ordersibling designeducational inequalitychina
spellingShingle Shoudeng Zhang
Outlier or Not? The Birth Order Effects on Educational Attainment in China
Sociological Science
birth order
sibling design
educational inequality
china
title Outlier or Not? The Birth Order Effects on Educational Attainment in China
title_full Outlier or Not? The Birth Order Effects on Educational Attainment in China
title_fullStr Outlier or Not? The Birth Order Effects on Educational Attainment in China
title_full_unstemmed Outlier or Not? The Birth Order Effects on Educational Attainment in China
title_short Outlier or Not? The Birth Order Effects on Educational Attainment in China
title_sort outlier or not the birth order effects on educational attainment in china
topic birth order
sibling design
educational inequality
china
url https://sociologicalscience.com/articles-v12-19-431/
work_keys_str_mv AT shoudengzhang outlierornotthebirthordereffectsoneducationalattainmentinchina