Birth Order and College Major in Sweden.

Previous research on birth order has consistently shown that later-borns have lower educational attainment than first-borns; however, it is not known whether there are birth order patterns in college major. Given evidence that parents disproportionately invest in first-born children, there are likel...

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Publicado en:Social Forces Vol. 96; no. 2; pp. 629 - 660
Autores principales: Barclay, Kieron, Hällsten, Martin, Myrskylä, Mikko
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Oxford University Press / USA Dec2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: Birth Order and College Major in Sweden.
      aug:
        au:
          Barclay, Kieron
          Hällsten, Martin
          Myrskylä, Mikko
        affil:
          Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
          Stockholm University
      su:
        Sweden
        Birth order
        Families
        Occupations
        Social status
        Parent-child relationships
        Economics
        College majors
        Course selection (Education)
      sug:
        subj:
          Birth order
          Families
          Occupations
          Social status
          Parent-child relationships
          Economics
          Sweden
          College majors
          Course selection (Education)
      ab: Previous research on birth order has consistently shown that later-borns have lower educational attainment than first-borns; however, it is not known whether there are birth order patterns in college major. Given evidence that parents disproportionately invest in first-born children, there are likely to be birth order patterns attributable to differences in both opportunities and preferences, related to ability, human capital specialization through parent-child transfers of knowledge, and personality. Birth order patterns in college major specialization may shed light on these explanatory mechanisms and may also account for long-term birth order differences in educational and labour market outcomes. Using Swedish population register data and sibling fixed effects, we find large birth order differences in university applications. First-borns are more likely to apply to, and graduate from, medicine and engineering programs at university, while later-borns are more likely to study journalism and business programs, and to attend art school. We also find that these birth order patterns are stronger in high-socioeconomic status families and that differences in college major explain approximately half of the within-family birth order differences in long-term earnings. These results indicate that early life experiences and parental investment shape sibling differences in ability, preferences, and ambitions even within the shared environment of the family.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
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      src: R
    language: English
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