Work

Revisiting a basic question: does growing up in either female or male environment affect sex differences in academic strengths and occupational choices?

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: Are we affected by growing up in either female or male environment? This study examined whether girls’ and boys’ academic strengths at age 16 in verbal/language school subjects, relative to technical/numerical subjects, and cognitive demands of a chosen occupation at age 35 are influenced by having same- or opposite-sex siblings. Using representative population data from Swedish registers, we extracted (Study 1) 3-sibling families (N = 17,233), focusing on the mid-born, and (Study 2) 2-sibling families (N = 118,688), focusing on the last-born child. Both studies demonstrated that individuals’ academic strengths were unaffected by sibship composition. Study 2 showed that boys with a sister tended to choose more numerically demanding occupations as compared to boys with a brother. Taken together, growing up in a more or less female or male environment, that is, having same- or opposite-sex siblings does not impact one’s tendency to be academically more or less verbally or numerically aligned.

Source: Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

DOI: 10.1057/s41599-021-00897-5

Authors: Daniel Fellman, Richard Bränström, Agneta Herlitz

Institution: Karolinska Institutet

Language: English

Topic: Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Gender equality, Quality education

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,290