The impact of birth order, sib-size and siblings’ sex composition on educational attainment in the Maldives

Authors : Aishath SHAFİNA

Pages : 87-100

View : 13 | Download : 9

Publication Date : 2021-07-01

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :The study investigates the effects of sibship size, birth order and sibling sex composition on educational attainment at higher education. While there are several studies on access and success of higher education focused on socioeconomic status and academic ability of the individuals, this study investigates family composition to explain the advantages and disadvantages in representation at higher education levels. The study specifically explores the structure of the family in terms of birth order, number of siblings and sex of siblings. The findings in this study indicates that lesser the number of members in the family, higher the representation in higher education for males and females. Furthermore, the study also gives evidence that higher the birth-order, lower the participation in higher education for males and females. It is also determined that the number of female siblings in the family does not impact participation in higher education for females and males. However, higher the number of male siblings in the family, lower the participation in higher education for males and females. The study contributes significantly to the understanding of the effects of sibship and its relevance to higher education conceptually, and its findings have implications for planning and policy interventions.
Keywords : Family, higher education, gender