Reference
Juhn, C., Rubinstein, Y., & Zuppann, C. A. (2015). The Quantity-Quality Trade-off and the Formation of Cognitive and Non-cognitive Skills. NBER Working Papers, 21824. National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/21824.html
Review
In their working paper, Juhn, Rubinstein, and Zuppann (2015) explored the impact of family size on childhood and adult outcomes by utilizing matched mother-child data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. The authors employed twins as an instrumental variable and panel data to account for omitted factors, ultimately discovering a significant quantity-quality trade-off: larger family sizes result in reduced parental investment, lower childhood cognitive abilities, and increased behavioral problems.
The researchers further identified differences in the effects on cognitive abilities and behavioral problems based on gender. Girls experienced more substantial negative impacts on cognitive abilities, while boys faced greater detrimental effects on behavior. Additionally, the study revealed heterogeneous effects according to the mother's Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) score. Children of mothers with lower AFQT scores experienced more pronounced negative effects on cognitive scores.
Juhn et al.'s (2015) findings have significant implications for understanding the influence of family size on child development and the formation of cognitive and non-cognitive skills. Policymakers and educators should take these findings into account when designing interventions aimed at mitigating the potential negative impacts of larger family sizes on children's cognitive and behavioral outcomes.
