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Does Sibling Gender Affect Personality Traits?

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  • Golsteyn, Bart H.H.

    (Maastricht University)

  • Magnée, Cécile A. J.

    (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis)

Abstract

This paper studies whether sibling gender affects personality traits. We use the idea that if parents decide to have a second child, it is random whether they will have a boy or a girl. Therefore, the relationship between the second-born sibling's gender and the first sibling's personality traits is causal. We employ longitudinal data from a large British cohort which is followed from birth onwards. The dataset includes personality traits at age 10 and 16. Our main result is that oldest boys in a household are more agreeable if their next-born sibling is a girl. This effect is robust across age (10 and 16), when controlling for among others family size, and when applying corrections for multiple hypothesis tests. Agreeableness is an important trait in life as it has been shown to correlate positively among others with being employed, having a skilled job, savings, and life satisfaction.

Suggested Citation

  • Golsteyn, Bart H.H. & Magnée, Cécile A. J., 2020. "Does Sibling Gender Affect Personality Traits?," IZA Discussion Papers 13473, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13473
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    15. Cools, Angela & Patacchini, Eleonora, 2019. "The brother earnings penalty," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 37-51.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Hirschman, Daniel, 2021. ""Controlling for what?" Folk economics, legal consciousness and the gender wage gap in the United States," SocArXiv j8pra, Center for Open Science.
    3. Iryna Hayduk & Maude Toussaint‐Comeau, 2022. "Determinants of noncognitive skills: Mediating effects of siblings' interaction and parenting quality," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(4), pages 677-694, October.
    4. Thomas Dudek & Anne Ardila Brenøe & Jan Feld & Julia M. Rohrer, 2022. "No evidence that siblings’ gender affects personality across nine countries," ECON - Working Papers 408, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    5. Esteban García-Miralles & Miriam Gensowski, 2020. "Are Children's Socio-Emotional Skills Shaped by Parental Health Shocks?," CEBI working paper series 20-21, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. The Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality (CEBI).
    6. Olgun Aydin & Cansu Altunbas & Elvan Hayat, 2021. "Using Text Mining Techniques to Understand the Economic Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(Special 4), pages 760-774.
    7. Daniel Fellman & Richard Bränström & Agneta Herlitz, 2021. "Revisiting a basic question: does growing up in either female or male environment affect sex differences in academic strengths and occupational choices?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, December.
    8. Andrea Dominguez & Rocío Diez, 2022. "Gender Barriers in Academia: Perceptions of Inequality in Professional Development among Female Academics in the Faculty of Education, University of Alicante, Spain," Societies, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-12, November.
    9. Piero Esposito & Sergio Scicchitano, 2023. "Drivers of skill mismatch among Italian graduates: the role of personality traits," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(40), pages 4642-4663, August.
    10. Bao, Te & Yuan, Yuemei & Luo, Weidong & Xu, Bin, 2024. "Unlucky to have brothers: Sibling sex composition and girls’ locus of control," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    11. Hensher, David A. & Beck, Matthew J., 2023. "Exploring how worthwhile the things that you do in life are during COVID-19 and links to well-being and working from home," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    12. Bonacini, Luca & Gallo, Giovanni & Scicchitano, Sergio, 2021. "Sometimes you cannot make it on your own. How household background influences chances of success in Italy," GLO Discussion Paper Series 832, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    13. Harris-Fry, Helen & Lamson, Lauren & Roett, Katelyn & Katz, Elizabeth, 2022. "Reducing gender bias in household consumption data: Implications for food fortification policy," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    14. Lena Detlefsen & Andreas Friedl & Katharina Lima Miranda & Ulrich Schmidt & Matthias Sutter, 2024. "Are economic preferences shaped by the family context? The relation of birth order and siblings’ gender composition to economic preferences," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 69(1), pages 1-31, August.
    15. Collins, Matthew, 2022. "Sibling Gender, Inheritance Customs and Educational Attainment: Evidence from Matrilineal and Patrilineal Societies," Working Papers 2022:5, Lund University, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    sibling gender composition; personality traits;

    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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