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Cognitive Skills, Non-Cognitive Skills, and Family Background: Evidence from Sibling Correlations

Year: 2016

Type: preprint

Abstract: This paper estimates sibling correlations in cognitive and non-cognitive skills to evaluate the importance of family background for skill formation. Based on a large representative German dataset including IQ test scores and measures of non-cognitive skills, a restricted maximum likelihood model indicates substantial influences of family background on skill formation. Sibling correlations in non-cognitive skills range from 0.223 to 0.464; therefore, at least one-fifth of the variance in these skills results from sibling-related factors. Sibling correlations in cognitive skills are higher than 0.50; therefore, more than half of the inequality in cognition can be explained by family background. Comparing these findings with those in the intergenerational skill transmission literature suggests that intergenerational correlations capture only part of the influence of family on children's cognitive and non-cognitive skills, as confirmed by decomposition analyses and in line with previous findings on educational and income mobility.

Source: RePEc: Research Papers in Economics

Authors: Silke Anger, Daniel D. Schnitzlein

Institutions: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, Universität Hamburg

Language: English

Topic: Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: University of Essex, University of Bath, University of Bristol, Universität Hamburg, University of California, Santa Barbara

OpenAlex ID: W3124447129

Cites: 22

Cited by: 6

Related to: 10