Abstract
Despite the vast literature on the sibling effects on child educational outcomes, less is known about how sibling gender structure relates to intrahousehold non-monetary resource dilution, mobilization, and transfer in non-western contexts. Utilizing nationally representative survey data from Chinese adolescents, this study investigated how sibship size and gender composition are associated with the household distribution of non-monetary resources such as parental monitoring, parent-child activities, parental educational aspiration, and child housework labor. China provides an especially important context to expand our understanding of the gendered sibling effects due to its traditionally patriarchal norms and persistent son preference, state-controlled fertility policies and low fertility rate, and escalating private education investment. Findings reveal a significantly gendered pattern of intrahousehold non-monetary resource dilution: children with more brothers experienced decreased parental monitoring and increased housework time, while children with more sisters were not disadvantaged in the same way; moreover, children with more younger brothers experienced decreased parental educational aspiration, while the numbers of other siblings did not show such effects. Furthermore, boys were less impacted by sibling competition for parental non-monetary resources than girls. These findings point to more subtle forms of gender inequality embedded in intrahousehold resource allocation that may not be as evident as inequality in monetary resources. Results also have important implications in the post-One-Child-Policy era and beyond the Chinese context.
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Data Availability
The 2013-14 China Educational Panel Survey data are available in the Chinese National Survey Data Archive at http://www.cnsda.org/index.php?r=projects/view&id=72810330.
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Liu, R. The Gendered Resource Dilution: Sibling Structure, Parental Non-Monetary Investment, and Child Housework Labor in China. Sex Roles 89, 743–757 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-023-01436-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-023-01436-z