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ABSTRACT
This study focuses on the association of sibling sex-composition on socioeconomic outcomes in adulthood, where previous studies have found mixed results. Using Swedish administrative registers covering all biological siblings born between years 1960 and 1970 in two- and three-child families, the sex-composition of siblings is disentangled from their birth order and gender. The reported income magnitudes (measured as rank and absolute term) are small. In all, having a same-sex or opposite-sex sibling seems not to be an important family structural component for understanding socioeconomic outcomes such as income differences.
Acknowledgements
The research presented in the article was funded by the Swedish Research Council (VR) (Dnr: 2008:7499) and the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (FORTE) (dnr: 2013-1119). The author is grateful for comments on earlier versions of the present study from participants at internal seminars within the Level-of-Living unit at the Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI). The author is particularly grateful for comments from Yvonne Åberg, Charlotta Magnusson, Anne Grönlund, Magnus Nermo, Erik Bihagen, Katarina Boye, Carina Mood and Mohammad Sephavand.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 It is important to note that the argument about the potentially higher return to scale for same-sex siblings does not only apply to less expensive gender-typical equipment, such as clothes. It also applies to quite expensive gender-typical equipment during childhood, for instance sport equipment (such as ice-skates and ski equipment), bicycles, toys (such as dolls or train-sets) and so on. Moreover, over time, gender-typical equipment might lose some of its significance, since boys and girls are being treated more similar. However, the analytical population of this study is restricted to those born between years 1960 and 1970 where gender-ideals were more profound.
2 The reason for starting from the age of 8 is due to data restriction. The building number (Sw. fastighetsnr) is only available from 1968 and onwards: the first sibling in the sample is then 8 years old. Please note that having the same building number does not necessarily mean that all family members are living together. There is a theoretical possibility that the parents (or siblings) live in different apartments within the same building (building number). However, it could be assumed that the probability that two parents with children are living in the same residential building (i.e. they have the same building number) but in different apartments, from the age of 8 of their oldest child until their youngest child is 16 years old, is extremely low.
3 Measuring income rank of siblings at the same age might lead to cohort effect. However, since the rank is constructed within each income year, any possible cohort effects are eliminated.
4 The reason for having a cutoff of at least 6 years of valid income information in the registers is that individuals might have been studying or working abroad during ages 33–42. However, over 90% of the sample have more than 9 years of valid income information. Sensitivity test have been performed to see whether there is an overrepresentation of older or younger siblings in the number of valid income information; the distribution is fairly equal. Sensitivity test have also been performed with including siblings with 5 and 7 years of valid income information, without altering the result below.
5 The variable does not include income from capital and non-taxable transfers. For more information about the income variable in Sweden from year 1968 and forward, see Hjalmarsson, Mood, and Shahbazian (Citation2015).
6 In order to see if this argument is also empirically valid, we can include some important background characteristics in the model (such as parents’ age at birth and parental education) and see if the result changes. In Appendix 1 this has been done; when including these background characteristics, the results are fairly the same. Moreover, in Appendix 4, the analytical population has been divided according to parental socioeconomic groups, in order to analyze whether the association of siblings’ gender may differ across population subgroups. As evident in , the results are fairly similar.
7 This was done by assigning 7 years for the old primary school, 9 years for compulsory school, 10–11 years for short high school, 12 years for long high school, 13 years for after high school education, 14–17 years for university studies (depending on credits), 18 years for a short PhD degree (licentiate) and 20 years for a PhD degree. For more information about the Swedish educational system, see Halldén (Citation2008).
8 The measure of siblings’ similarity of field of education was created from Statistic Sweden’s 97 different educational program (for more information, see Statistics Sweden, Citation2017). The field of education is measured as the highest educational attainment when the siblings were at age 32.