Family size, cognitive outcomes, and familial interaction in stable, two-parent families: United States, 1997-2002

Demography. 2014 Oct;51(5):1895-931. doi: 10.1007/s13524-014-0331-8.

Abstract

Measures of children's time use, particularly with parents and siblings, are used to evaluate three hypotheses in relation to the vocabulary and mathematical skills development: (1) the resource dilution hypothesis, which argues that parental and household resources are diluted in larger families; (2) the confluence hypothesis, which suggests that the intellectual milieu of families is lowered with additional children; and (3) the admixture ("no effect") hypothesis, which suggests that the negative relationship between family size and achievement is an artifact of cross-sectional research resulting from unobserved heterogeneity. Each hypothesis is tested using within-child estimates of change in cognitive scores over time with the addition of new children to families.

MeSH terms

  • Achievement*
  • Child
  • Child Development*
  • Child, Preschool
  • Cognition*
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Family Characteristics*
  • Family Relations
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • Time Factors
  • United States