The effects of family structure on the educational attainment of siblings in Hungary

Abstract

In this article we examine the impact of family structure on educational attainment in Hungary. Using a data-set collected in 1983 with information on all siblings of 17146 primary respondents, the effects of family size, birth order, and spacing were investigated. Hypotheses on these effects were based on sibling resource-dilution theory, which was modified for the case of Hungary, where educational policy has weakened the effects of parents' material resources. In a country in which cultural resources are predominant, resource-dilution theory offers different predictions. As expected, family size had a substantial negative effect on schooling. This effect increased over birth cohorts. The effect of birth order was curvilinear: in larger families the oldest and youngest siblings attained the highest educational qualifications. Effects of spacing were significant, indicating that close spacing affects schooling positively. The results corroborate sibling resource-dilution theory. © 1995 Oxford University Press.