Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: 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.
Source: Sociological Science
DOI: 10.15195/v12.a19
Author: Shoudeng Zhang
Institutions: Peking University, University of Oxford
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Reduced inequalities
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $575
OpenAlex ID: W4412716422