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Sibling similarity in family formation
Marcel Raab1, Anette Eva Fasang, Aleksi Karhula
1WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Reichpietschufer 50, D-10785, Berlin, Germany, marcel.raab@wzb.eu.
Demography
|November 5, 2014
Summary
Sibling similarity in family formation patterns is moderate, even after accounting for parental background. Family internal dynamics, particularly gender and education, play a larger role in shaping these trajectories.
Area of Science:
- Sociology
- Demography
- Family Studies
Background:
- Sibling studies commonly examine family background's influence on socioeconomic and demographic outcomes.
- Existing research often uses sibling comparisons but lacks detailed longitudinal analysis of family-formation trajectories.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate sibling similarity in longitudinal family-formation trajectories.
- To determine if shared parental background characteristics explain sibling similarity.
- To identify factors driving stratification in family formation.
Main Methods:
- Novel research design combining sibling comparisons and sequence analysis.
- Utilized Finnish register data (1987-2007) for siblings and unrelated dyads (N=14,257).
- Constructed and analyzed longitudinal family-formation trajectories in young adulthood.
Main Results:
- Family formation trajectories are significantly more similar for siblings than unrelated dyads.
- Shared parental background characteristics explain little of the sibling similarity.
- Individual factors like gender and education are more decisive in family-formation stratification.
- Family internal dynamics reinforce stratification, concentrating disadvantage within families.
Conclusions:
- Sibling similarity in family formation persists beyond shared parental background.
- Individual characteristics and family dynamics are key drivers of family-formation patterns and social inequality.
- Family structure plays a crucial role in the intergenerational reproduction of social inequality.
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