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Competition for Resources: A Reexamination of Sibship Composition Models of Parental Investment
Author(s) -
Lee Kristen Schultz
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of marriage and family
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.578
H-Index - 159
eISSN - 1741-3737
pISSN - 0022-2445
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2009.00598.x
Subject(s) - educational attainment , investment (military) , competition (biology) , demographic economics , economics , socioeconomic status , composition (language) , inequality , labour economics , psychology , sociology , demography , economic growth , population , political science , ecology , linguistics , philosophy , politics , law , biology , mathematical analysis , mathematics
The predictions of resource dilution and sibship gender composition models of educational investment are tested using the Japanese Nationwide Survey on Families ( N = 6,985). Japan is an important case because of its postindustrial economy, coupled with high levels of dependence on parental investment to attend a university and persisting gender inequality in educational attainment. In previous between‐family analyses of educational attainment in Japan, boys were found to drain resources from their sisters. The within‐family, multilevel models of parental educational investments in this analysis show that girls with college‐educated brothers fare better than their peers without brothers. An alternative model incorporating the educational investments received by brothers in the same family is proposed.