The effect of birth order on the probability of university enrolment
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11310%2F18%3A10379005" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11310/18:10379005 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2018.08.003" target="_blank" >http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2018.08.003</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2018.08.003" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.intell.2018.08.003</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
The effect of birth order on the probability of university enrolment
Original language description
The birth order influences various psychological characteristics ranging from personality traits to sexual behaviour. Yet while many studies suggest that firstborn children are likely to achieve a higher educational level than their siblings, other studies reported no such effect, which may be due to various modulating factors such as sex and family size. In the present study, we have therefore tested the effect of birth order on the probability of university enrolment while taking these possibly modulating factors into consideration. We collected birth-order data from two cohorts of biology students (Study 1: students from 1990 to 1995, N=271; Study 2: students from 2011 to 2017, N=2049) at the Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. The proportion of firstborns in both cohorts was compared to population data obtained from the Czech Statistical Office and controlled for sex and family size. In both groups of students, we found a significantly higher proportion of firstborns than in the general population as represented by the official population data. In Study 1, based on general population data we expected firstborns to form 44.8% of the cohort. The actual proportion was found to be 63.1%. In Study 2, the expected proportion of firstborns was 48.1%, while the proportion actually found was 64.0%. We have also observed a considerable influence of family size on the size of the birth-order effect. In particular, the size of the birth-order effect on educational achievements of the firstborn children positively correlated with family size. Comparison between the two cohorts had also shown that over the last two decades, overrepresentation of firstborns had significantly declined, which probably reflects a decrease in the stringency of entrance examinations to the Faculty of Science over the past two decades. Our results support previous findings regarding the advantage of firstborns in educational achievements and show that the birth-order effect is not just an epiphenomenon of family size. By comparing the two cohorts 20 years apart, this study also offers a unique opportunity to evaluate the birth-order effect in relation to sociodemographic changes over a certain time period. In particular, our study demonstrates that the birth-order effect is robust enough to withstand the dramatic changes in university attendance in present-day Czech Republic.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
10602 - Biology (theoretical, mathematical, thermal, cryobiology, biological rhythm), Evolutionary biology
Result continuities
Project
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Continuities
S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach
Others
Publication year
2018
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Intelligence
ISSN
0160-2896
e-ISSN
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Volume of the periodical
70
Issue of the periodical within the volume
September–October 2018
Country of publishing house
US - UNITED STATES
Number of pages
12
Pages from-to
61-72
UT code for WoS article
000445511100009
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85052535328