Relationship between the Number of Siblings and the Number of Children That One Have In The Future Assignment | Get Homework Help

Relationship between the Number of Siblings and the Number of Children That
One Have In The Future
Niaja Murray
Lehman College
Experimental Psychology
PSYCHOLOGY 2
Topic: Relationship between the Number of Siblings and the Number of Children That
One Have In The Future
Cools, S., & Hart, R.K. (2016). The effect of childhood family size and on fertility adulthood:
New evidence from IV estimation. Demography, vol. 54, pp. 23-44.
Even though there exists a strong positive correlation in fertility across generations,
Cools and Harts provide a thorough discussion about the effects on a person who grows up in a
family of many siblings and the number of children they have in adulthood. They analyze
whether or not such people who are raised in a family of many siblings may also have many
children in the future. The article explores the effects of using a sample of the first two children
born in a family. From their research, they found out that the amount of children one has is
directly influenced by the number of people they were in their family when they grew up. Men
are the most affected since from their study, Cool and Hart found out that males are most
affected, and they end up having more than three children. An additional sibling, according to
the study, poses a positive effect on the fertility of men. As for ladies, the margin effect is always
negative.
The study is related to the topic of interest as it shows how both men and women respond
to the intergeneration fertility. It explores the relationship between the number of siblings and the
number of children. It is also relevant to the topic as it shows how girls shift less time from the
market to the family on every additional child that is born. Furthermore, the article is relevant to
the topic of study as it shows the behavioral characteristics that men exhibit when they grow up
and have families. It shows that most men will have a more significant number of children when
they grew up in a family with many siblings.
PSYCHOLOGY 3
Kolk, M. (2013). Understanding the transmission of fertility across multiple
generations-Socialization or socioeconomics? Demography Unit, Department of
Sociology, Stockholm University, SE 106 91Stockholm, Sweden.
The article discusses the distributions and patterns in the transmission of
intergenerational fertility. Kolk analyses the reason why most children replicate the size of their
family when they end up becoming parents. He focuses on identifying whether fertility in many
different generations has any relationship with the transmission of intergeneration socioeconomic
status. According to Kolk (2013), intergenerational productivity is also determined by other
factors like education and the cultural values of society. From the study that he carried out in
Norway, on a cohort of children born from 1970 and 1982, he found out that many generations’
continuous fertility is affected by the continuities in socioeconomic status and education.
The relationship between the article and the topic under study is that there is a discussion
about preferred family size and the transmission of values in the society as factors that determine
the number of children one may have. The article also talks about the grand-parent child
association as a factor that affects the number of children one may have in the future, which has
a direct relationship to the topic of interest. Also, the article is relevant as it shows how the
preferences of both parents and grandparents may be passed down from generation to generation.
Therefore, concerning the topic under discussion, the article seconds the topic. It agrees with the
topic of having many or little siblings in a family affect the number of children that one may
PSYCHOLOGY 4
have in the future. However, other effects, such as socioeconomic status and education, may
influence the number of children in a given family.
Murphy, M. & Knudsen, L.B. (2002). The intergenerational transmission of fertility in
contemporary Denmark: The effects of the number of siblings (full and a half),
birth order, and whether male or female. Population Studies, vol. 56, no. 3, pp.
235-248.
The article uses fertility databases from Denmark to analyze the intergenerational
transmission of fertility. Murphy and Knudsen also explore the effect of the number of their
siblings and the fertility behaviors that they might exhibit when they are full-grown adults. They
also acknowledge the existence of a positive correlation between children and the fertility
characteristics of their parents. The article highlights the various attributes that contribute to the
fertility rate in which intergenerational fertility is transmitted. From the essay, however, there is
no evidence of the weakening of the transmission of intergenerational fertility. This may be
attributed to the fact that there is a flexible lifestyle in the post-transitional phase.
Concerning the topic of interest, the article is relevant as it explores the intergenerational
trends in fertility in any contemporary society. From what Murphy and Knudsen found out, in
any subsequent generation, every family influences the future fertility behaviors of siblings. In
support of the topic, the article holds that parents’ behavior has over 80 % of influence from
childhood experiences. In particular, those who grew up in small families would prefer to have a
small number of children, while those who grew up in a large family would like to have a
relatively high number of children. From this study, we can conclude that there is a strong
PSYCHOLOGY 5
relationship between the number of siblings and the number of children that one may have in the
future, which supports the topic of interest.