The waning effect of sibship composition on school attainment in Hong Kong

Comparative Education Review

Volumn 42, Issue 2, 1998, Pages 99-111

  Post, David ^a   Pong, Suet Ling ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0032398371     PISSN: 00104086     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1086/447491     Document Type: Article

References (43)

1. For a review, see Suet-ling Pong, "Sex Preference and Fertility in Peninsular Malaysia," Studies in Family Planning 25, no. 3 (1994): 137-48.
2. David Post, "Educational Stratification, School Expansion, and Public Policy in Hong Kong," Sociology of Education 67, no. 2 (1994): 121-38.
3. See, e.g., Suet-ling Pong, "Preferential Policies and Secondary School Attainment in Peninsular Malaysia," Sociology of Education 66, no. 4 (1993): 245-61; Yossi Shavit and Hans-Peter Blossfeld, eds., Persistent Inequality: A Comparative Study of Educational Stratification in Thirteen Countries (Boulder, Colo.: Westview, 1993).
4. See, e.g., Suet-ling Pong, "Preferential Policies and Secondary School Attainment in Peninsular Malaysia," Sociology of Education 66, no. 4 (1993): 245-61; Yossi Shavit and Hans-Peter Blossfeld, eds., Persistent Inequality: A Comparative Study of Educational Stratification in Thirteen Countries (Boulder, Colo.: Westview, 1993).
5. Pitirim Sorokin, Social and Cultural Mobility (1927; reprint, Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press, 1954).
6. Robert M. Hauser and William H. Sewell, "Birth Order and Educational Attainment in Full Sibships," American Educational Research Journal 22, no. 1 (1985): 1-23; Robert M. Hauser and William H. Sewell, "Family Effects in Simple Models of Education, Occupational Status, and Earnings: Findings from the Wisconsin and Kalamazoo Studies, "Journal of Labor Economics suppl. 4, (1986): S83-S116; David Featherman and Robert Hauser, Opportunity and Change (New York: Academic Press, 1978).
7. Robert M. Hauser and William H. Sewell, "Birth Order and Educational Attainment in Full Sibships," American Educational Research Journal 22, no. 1 (1985): 1-23; Robert M. Hauser and William H. Sewell, "Family Effects in Simple Models of Education, Occupational Status, and Earnings: Findings from the Wisconsin and Kalamazoo Studies, "Journal of Labor Economics suppl. 4, (1986): S83-S116; David Featherman and Robert Hauser, Opportunity and Change (New York: Academic Press, 1978).
8. Robert M. Hauser and William H. Sewell, "Birth Order and Educational Attainment in Full Sibships," American Educational Research Journal 22, no. 1 (1985): 1-23; Robert M. Hauser and William H. Sewell, "Family Effects in Simple Models of Education, Occupational Status, and Earnings: Findings from the Wisconsin and Kalamazoo Studies, "Journal of Labor Economics suppl. 4, (1986): S83-S116; David Featherman and Robert Hauser, Opportunity and Change (New York: Academic Press, 1978).
9. Judith Blake, Family Size and Achievement (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989).
10. Jere R. Behrman and Barbara L. Wolfe, "Investments in Schooling in Two Generations in Pre-revolutionary Nicaragua: The Roles of Family Background and School Supply," Journal of Development Economics 27 (1987): 395-419.
11. Brian Powell and Lala Carr Steelman, "The Liability of Having Brothers: Paying for College and the Sex Composition of the Family," Sociology of Education 62, no. 2 (1989): 134-47; Brian Powell and Lala Carr Steelman, "Feeling the Pinch: Child Spacing and Constraints on Parental Economic Investments in Children," Social Forces 73, no. 4 (1995): 1465-86.
12. Brian Powell and Lala Carr Steelman, "The Liability of Having Brothers: Paying for College and the Sex Composition of the Family," Sociology of Education 62, no. 2 (1989): 134-47; Brian Powell and Lala Carr Steelman, "Feeling the Pinch: Child Spacing and Constraints on Parental Economic Investments in Children," Social Forces 73, no. 4 (1995): 1465-86.
13. From a social psychological perspective, see Kevin Marjoribanks, "The Sibling Resource Dilution Theory: An Analysis," The Journal of Psychology 125, no. 3 (1991): 337-46; Kevin Marjoribanks, "Families, Schools and Children's Learning: A Study of Children's Learning Environments," International Journal of Educational Research 21, no. 5 (1994): 439-555.
14. From a social psychological perspective, see Kevin Marjoribanks, "The Sibling Resource Dilution Theory: An Analysis," The Journal of Psychology 125, no. 3 (1991): 337-46; Kevin Marjoribanks, "Families, Schools and Children's Learning: A Study of Children's Learning Environments," International Journal of Educational Research 21, no. 5 (1994): 439-555.
15. For a review of the effects of sibship size from an economic perspective, see Elizabeth M. King, "The Effect of Family Size on Family Welfare: What Do We Know?" in Population Growth and Economic Development: Issues and Evidence, ed. D. Gale Johnson and Ronald Lee (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1987), pp. 373-412.
16. For a review, see Kristin F. Butcher and Anne Case, "The Effect of Sibling Sex Composition on Women's Education and Earnings," The Quarterly Journal of Economics 109, no. 3 (1994): 531-63.
17. William Parish and Robert J. Willis, "Daughters. Education and Family Budgets: Taiwan Experiences," Journal of Human Resources 28 (December 1993): 803-98.
18. See Marjoribanks, "The Sibling Resource Dilution Theory," and "Families, Schools and Children's Learning."
19. Stephen Tang, "The Differential Educational Attainment of Children: An Empirical Study of Hong Kong" (Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1983); Stephen Tang, "Social Origins, Sex-Sibling Order, and Child Schooling," in The Economics and Financing of Hong Kong Education, ed. Yue-ping Chung and Richard Yue-chim Wong (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1992), pp. 175-98; Albert I. Hermalin, Judith Seltzer, and Ching-hsiang Lin, "Transitions in the Effect of Family Size on Female Educational Attainment: The Case of Taiwan." Comparative Education Review 26, no. 2 (June 1982): 254-70; Sharon Sassler, "Trade-Offs in the Family: Sibling Effects on Daughters' Activities in 1910," Demography 32, no. 2 (1995): 557-75; Susan Greenhalgh, "Sexual Stratification: The Other Side of 'Growth with Equity' in East Asia," Population and Development Review 11, no. 2 (1985): 265-314; Cynthia B. Lloyd and Ann Blanc, "Children's Schooling in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Fathers, Mothers, and Others," Population and Development Review 22, no. 2 (1996): 265-98.
20. Stephen Tang, "The Differential Educational Attainment of Children: An Empirical Study of Hong Kong" (Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1983); Stephen Tang, "Social Origins, Sex-Sibling Order, and Child Schooling," in The Economics and Financing of Hong Kong Education, ed. Yue-ping Chung and Richard Yue-chim Wong (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1992), pp. 175-98; Albert I. Hermalin, Judith Seltzer, and Ching-hsiang Lin, "Transitions in the Effect of Family Size on Female Educational Attainment: The Case of Taiwan." Comparative Education Review 26, no. 2 (June 1982): 254-70; Sharon Sassler, "Trade-Offs in the Family: Sibling Effects on Daughters' Activities in 1910," Demography 32, no. 2 (1995): 557-75; Susan Greenhalgh, "Sexual Stratification: The Other Side of 'Growth with Equity' in East Asia," Population and Development Review 11, no. 2 (1985): 265-314; Cynthia B. Lloyd and Ann Blanc, "Children's Schooling in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Fathers, Mothers, and Others," Population and Development Review 22, no. 2 (1996): 265-98.
21. Stephen Tang, "The Differential Educational Attainment of Children: An Empirical Study of Hong Kong" (Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1983); Stephen Tang, "Social Origins, Sex-Sibling Order, and Child Schooling," in The Economics and Financing of Hong Kong Education, ed. Yue-ping Chung and Richard Yue-chim Wong (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1992), pp. 175-98; Albert I. Hermalin, Judith Seltzer, and Ching-hsiang Lin, "Transitions in the Effect of Family Size on Female Educational Attainment: The Case of Taiwan." Comparative Education Review 26, no. 2 (June 1982): 254-70; Sharon Sassler, "Trade-Offs in the Family: Sibling Effects on Daughters' Activities in 1910," Demography 32, no. 2 (1995): 557-75; Susan Greenhalgh, "Sexual Stratification: The Other Side of 'Growth with Equity' in East Asia," Population and Development Review 11, no. 2 (1985): 265-314; Cynthia B. Lloyd and Ann Blanc, "Children's Schooling in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Fathers, Mothers, and Others," Population and Development Review 22, no. 2 (1996): 265-98.
22. Stephen Tang, "The Differential Educational Attainment of Children: An Empirical Study of Hong Kong" (Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1983); Stephen Tang, "Social Origins, Sex-Sibling Order, and Child Schooling," in The Economics and Financing of Hong Kong Education, ed. Yue-ping Chung and Richard Yue-chim Wong (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1992), pp. 175-98; Albert I. Hermalin, Judith Seltzer, and Ching-hsiang Lin, "Transitions in the Effect of Family Size on Female Educational Attainment: The Case of Taiwan." Comparative Education Review 26, no. 2 (June 1982): 254-70; Sharon Sassler, "Trade-Offs in the Family: Sibling Effects on Daughters' Activities in 1910," Demography 32, no. 2 (1995): 557-75; Susan Greenhalgh, "Sexual Stratification: The Other Side of 'Growth with Equity' in East Asia," Population and Development Review 11, no. 2 (1985): 265-314; Cynthia B. Lloyd and Ann Blanc, "Children's Schooling in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Fathers, Mothers, and Others," Population and Development Review 22, no. 2 (1996): 265-98.
23. Stephen Tang, "The Differential Educational Attainment of Children: An Empirical Study of Hong Kong" (Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1983); Stephen Tang, "Social Origins, Sex-Sibling Order, and Child Schooling," in The Economics and Financing of Hong Kong Education, ed. Yue-ping Chung and Richard Yue-chim Wong (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1992), pp. 175-98; Albert I. Hermalin, Judith Seltzer, and Ching-hsiang Lin, "Transitions in the Effect of Family Size on Female Educational Attainment: The Case of Taiwan." Comparative Education Review 26, no. 2 (June 1982): 254-70; Sharon Sassler, "Trade-Offs in the Family: Sibling Effects on Daughters' Activities in 1910," Demography 32, no. 2 (1995): 557-75; Susan Greenhalgh, "Sexual Stratification: The Other Side of 'Growth with Equity' in East Asia," Population and Development Review 11, no. 2 (1985): 265-314; Cynthia B. Lloyd and Ann Blanc, "Children's Schooling in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Fathers, Mothers, and Others," Population and Development Review 22, no. 2 (1996): 265-98.
24. Stephen Tang, "The Differential Educational Attainment of Children: An Empirical Study of Hong Kong" (Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1983); Stephen Tang, "Social Origins, Sex-Sibling Order, and Child Schooling," in The Economics and Financing of Hong Kong Education, ed. Yue-ping Chung and Richard Yue-chim Wong (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1992), pp. 175-98; Albert I. Hermalin, Judith Seltzer, and Ching-hsiang Lin, "Transitions in the Effect of Family Size on Female Educational Attainment: The Case of Taiwan." Comparative Education Review 26, no. 2 (June 1982): 254-70; Sharon Sassler, "Trade-Offs in the Family: Sibling Effects on Daughters' Activities in 1910," Demography 32, no. 2 (1995): 557-75; Susan Greenhalgh, "Sexual Stratification: The Other Side of 'Growth with Equity' in East Asia," Population and Development Review 11, no. 2 (1985): 265-314; Cynthia B. Lloyd and Ann Blanc, "Children's Schooling in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Fathers, Mothers, and Others," Population and Development Review 22, no. 2 (1996): 265-98.
25. Suet-ling Pong and David Post, "Trends in Gender and Family Background on School Attainment: The Case of Hong Kong," British fournal of Sociology 42, no. 2 (1991): 249-71; David Post, "Educational Opportunity and the Role of the State in Hong Kong," Comparative Education Review 37, no. 3 (August 1993): 240-62; David Post, "Educational Stratification, School Expansion, and Public Policy in Hong Kong," Sociology of Education 67, no. 2 (1994): 121-38; David Post, "The Massification of Education in Hong Kong: Consequences for Equality of Opportunity," Sociological Perspectives 39, no. 2 (1996): 155-74.
26. Suet-ling Pong and David Post, "Trends in Gender and Family Background on School Attainment: The Case of Hong Kong," British fournal of Sociology 42, no. 2 (1991): 249-71; David Post, "Educational Opportunity and the Role of the State in Hong Kong," Comparative Education Review 37, no. 3 (August 1993): 240-62; David Post, "Educational Stratification, School Expansion, and Public Policy in Hong Kong," Sociology of Education 67, no. 2 (1994): 121-38; David Post, "The Massification of Education in Hong Kong: Consequences for Equality of Opportunity," Sociological Perspectives 39, no. 2 (1996): 155-74.
27. Suet-ling Pong and David Post, "Trends in Gender and Family Background on School Attainment: The Case of Hong Kong," British fournal of Sociology 42, no. 2 (1991): 249-71; David Post, "Educational Opportunity and the Role of the State in Hong Kong," Comparative Education Review 37, no. 3 (August 1993): 240-62; David Post, "Educational Stratification, School Expansion, and Public Policy in Hong Kong," Sociology of Education 67, no. 2 (1994): 121-38; David Post, "The Massification of Education in Hong Kong: Consequences for Equality of Opportunity," Sociological Perspectives 39, no. 2 (1996): 155-74.
28. Suet-ling Pong and David Post, "Trends in Gender and Family Background on School Attainment: The Case of Hong Kong," British fournal of Sociology 42, no. 2 (1991): 249-71; David Post, "Educational Opportunity and the Role of the State in Hong Kong," Comparative Education Review 37, no. 3 (August 1993): 240-62; David Post, "Educational Stratification, School Expansion, and Public Policy in Hong Kong," Sociology of Education 67, no. 2 (1994): 121-38; David Post, "The Massification of Education in Hong Kong: Consequences for Equality of Opportunity," Sociological Perspectives 39, no. 2 (1996): 155-74.
29. See Parish and Willis.
30. Karen Oppenheim Mason, The Status of Women: A Review of Its Relationships to Fertility and Mortality (New York: Rockefeller Foundation, 1985); Karin Hyde, "Sub-Saharan Africa," in Women's Education in Developing Countries, ed. E. M. King and M. A. Hill (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986, pp. 100-135; Sonalde Desai, "Children at Risk: The Role of Family Structure in Latin America and West Africa," Population and Development Review 18, no. 4 (1994): 689-717.
31. Karen Oppenheim Mason, The Status of Women: A Review of Its Relationships to Fertility and Mortality (New York: Rockefeller Foundation, 1985); Karin Hyde, "Sub-Saharan Africa," in Women's Education in Developing Countries, ed. E. M. King and M. A. Hill (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986, pp. 100-135; Sonalde Desai, "Children at Risk: The Role of Family Structure in Latin America and West Africa," Population and Development Review 18, no. 4 (1994): 689-717.
32. Karen Oppenheim Mason, The Status of Women: A Review of Its Relationships to Fertility and Mortality (New York: Rockefeller Foundation, 1985); Karin Hyde, "Sub-Saharan Africa," in Women's Education in Developing Countries, ed. E. M. King and M. A. Hill (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986, pp. 100-135; Sonalde Desai, "Children at Risk: The Role of Family Structure in Latin America and West Africa," Population and Development Review 18, no. 4 (1994): 689-717.
33. We recognize that some of the income growth seen in the fathers of 18-year-olds, from 1981 to 1991, may be due to differences in the age of marriage and parenting between the two cohorts of children. Since wages tend to increase over the career, older fathers would have greater incomes.
34. It is unusual, even somewhat unique in the world history of educational expansion, but increased school participation by Hong Kong children appears not to have been driven primarily by an increased valuation of education among the public. Economic returns have remained fairly stable or declined. Furthermore, insulated decision making by government authorities meant that any increases in the public's demand for schooling played only a minor role in the increased governmental supply of subsidized education. This autonomy on the part of decision makers leads us to view the "period effect," estimated below, as exogenous to the changes in the effect of sibship composition on attainment.
35. Janet Salaaf, Working Daughters of Hong Kong: Filial Piety or Power in the Family? (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981). See also Tang, "The Differential Educational Attainment of Children," and "Social Origins."
36. Janet Salaaf, Working Daughters of Hong Kong: Filial Piety or Power in the Family? (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981). See also Tang, "The Differential Educational Attainment of Children," and "Social Origins."
37. Suet-ling Pong, "The Effect of Women's Labor on Family Income Inequality: The Case of Hong Kong," Economic Development and Cultural Change 40, no. 1 (1991): 131-52.
38. Our assumption that there were no changes in the "cultural" aspects of decision making is clearly open to question. For example, living at the center of a world fashion industry, Hong Kong's citizens purchase and model the latest styles of clothing each year. Their younger siblings living outside Hong Kong benefit from this hyper-fasion consciousness by receiving yearly bundles of cast-off garments from back home. More seriously, there is a large body of research, from the world system perspective, that argues for a convergence of local values and categories around common values and beliefs. Education becomes seen increasingly as a fundamental human right. See, e.g., John Boli and John Meyer, "The Ideology of Childhood and the State: Rules Distinguishing Children in National Constitutions, 1870-1970," in Institutional Structure: Constituting State, Society, and the Individual, ed. George Thomas, John Meyer, Francisco Ramirez, and John Boli (Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage, 1987), pp. 215-41: Francisco O. Ramirez and John Boli, "The Political Construction of Mass Schooling: European Origins and Worldwide Institutionalization," Sociology of Education 60, no. 1 (1987): 2-17. Notwithstanding a possible increase in the subjective value placed by parents on educating all children, our view is that these changes over a 10-year period were far more modest than those reflecting the decrease in the objective price of education. Ethnographic and historical methods would be needed to confirm this view.
39. Our assumption that there were no changes in the "cultural" aspects of decision making is clearly open to question. For example, living at the center of a world fashion industry, Hong Kong's citizens purchase and model the latest styles of clothing each year. Their younger siblings living outside Hong Kong benefit from this hyper-fasion consciousness by receiving yearly bundles of cast-off garments from back home. More seriously, there is a large body of research, from the world system perspective, that argues for a convergence of local values and categories around common values and beliefs. Education becomes seen increasingly as a fundamental human right. See, e.g., John Boli and John Meyer, "The Ideology of Childhood and the State: Rules Distinguishing Children in National Constitutions, 1870-1970," in Institutional Structure: Constituting State, Society, and the Individual, ed. George Thomas, John Meyer, Francisco Ramirez, and John Boli (Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage, 1987), pp. 215-41: Francisco O. Ramirez and John Boli, "The Political Construction of Mass Schooling: European Origins and Worldwide Institutionalization," Sociology of Education 60, no. 1 (1987): 2-17. Notwithstanding a possible increase in the subjective value placed by parents on educating all children, our view is that these changes over a 10-year period were far more modest than those reflecting the decrease in the objective price of education. Ethnographic and historical methods would be needed to confirm this view.
40. Tang, "The Differential Educational Attainment of Children," and "Social Origins."
41. It is important to note that children who lived with parents are better educated than persons who lived with other relatives, who lived independently, or who were domestic employees. We think our findings are generalizable to patterns of intrahousehold educational stratification among nuclear families sharing the same household. However, we are less certain about their applicability to individuals in other types of living situations.
42. i's, i = 2, . . . , n.
43. Tang, "The Differential Educational Attainment of Children," and "Social Origins" (n. 14 above).