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Too many is not enough: Studying how children are affected by their number of siblings and resource dilution in families

Öberg, Stefan (2017) In History of the Family 22(2-3). p.157-174
Abstract

This special issue contains a collection of papers that study how children are affected by their sibship size, using anthropometric data. The varied results provide a wealth of new knowledge and show that this influence is context-specific. In this paper I discuss the methodological challenges that we will encounter continuing research on resource dilution in families. The most important challenge is the plausible endogeneity of sibship size and thus biased estimates of the effect. The problem of endogeneity can be made worse through residual confounding caused by measurement error. I argue that we need to be creative and find many different ways to circumvent the problems of endogeneity, for example by looking for testable implications... (More)

This special issue contains a collection of papers that study how children are affected by their sibship size, using anthropometric data. The varied results provide a wealth of new knowledge and show that this influence is context-specific. In this paper I discuss the methodological challenges that we will encounter continuing research on resource dilution in families. The most important challenge is the plausible endogeneity of sibship size and thus biased estimates of the effect. The problem of endogeneity can be made worse through residual confounding caused by measurement error. I argue that we need to be creative and find many different ways to circumvent the problems of endogeneity, for example by looking for testable implications of the resource dilution model or studying specific situations or groups. Comparative or longitudinal studies, utilizing the variation and changes in societal contexts and institutions across time and place could also provide ways forward. In general it is the basics of the scientific method that we need to keep in mind when we continue research on this topic: formulate explicit models, do replication studies, separate exploratory and confirmatory analyses, report negative results, and be cautious of over-explaining results.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
endogeneity, family size, measurement error, sibship size, statistical confounding
in
History of the Family
volume
22
issue
2-3
pages
18 pages
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • scopus:85020226603
ISSN
1081-602X
DOI
10.1080/1081602X.2017.1302890
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
id
f9ba789e-5388-4729-b2a0-a940e97c68f5
date added to LUP
2025-03-07 10:30:41
date last changed
2025-04-04 13:51:34
@article{f9ba789e-5388-4729-b2a0-a940e97c68f5,
  abstract     = {{<p>This special issue contains a collection of papers that study how children are affected by their sibship size, using anthropometric data. The varied results provide a wealth of new knowledge and show that this influence is context-specific. In this paper I discuss the methodological challenges that we will encounter continuing research on resource dilution in families. The most important challenge is the plausible endogeneity of sibship size and thus biased estimates of the effect. The problem of endogeneity can be made worse through residual confounding caused by measurement error. I argue that we need to be creative and find many different ways to circumvent the problems of endogeneity, for example by looking for testable implications of the resource dilution model or studying specific situations or groups. Comparative or longitudinal studies, utilizing the variation and changes in societal contexts and institutions across time and place could also provide ways forward. In general it is the basics of the scientific method that we need to keep in mind when we continue research on this topic: formulate explicit models, do replication studies, separate exploratory and confirmatory analyses, report negative results, and be cautious of over-explaining results.</p>}},
  author       = {{Öberg, Stefan}},
  issn         = {{1081-602X}},
  keywords     = {{endogeneity; family size; measurement error; sibship size; statistical confounding}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  number       = {{2-3}},
  pages        = {{157--174}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{History of the Family}},
  title        = {{Too many is not enough: Studying how children are affected by their number of siblings and resource dilution in families}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1081602X.2017.1302890}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/1081602X.2017.1302890}},
  volume       = {{22}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}