Volume 23 - Article 4 | Pages 73-104
Sibship size and status attainment across contexts: Evidence from the Netherlands, 1840-1925
| Date received: | 27 Aug 2009 |
| Date published: | 13 Jul 2010 |
| Word count: | 7957 |
| Keywords: | child well-being, family size, Netherlands, nineteenth century, resource dilution theory, sibship size, status attainment |
| DOI: | 10.4054/DemRes.2010.23.4 |
| Weblink: | You will find all publications in this Special Collection “Social Mobility and Demographic Behaviour: A Long-Term Perspective” at http://www.demographic-research.org/special/10/ |
Abstract
This paper investigates the effects of sibship size on status attainment across different contexts and subgroups. Resource dilution theory predicts that with larger sibship size, children’s status outcomes fall. However, the empirical record has shown that this is not always the case. In this paper we have tested three alternative hypotheses for neutral or even positive effects of sibship size on status attainment on the basis of a large-scale registry database covering the period of industrialization and fertility decline in the Netherlands in the nineteenth and early twentieth-century. Our findings offer support for the family developmental cycle, buffering by kin groups, and socio-economic development as alternative explanations to the resource dilution hypothesis.
Author's Affiliation
Hilde Bras - VU University Amsterdam, Netherlands
Jan Kok - Virtual Knowledge Studio for the Humanities and Social Sciences (VKS), Netherlands
Kees Mandemakers - International Institute for Social History, Netherlands
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