We studied the effect of the number and characteristics of siblings (sex, age) on school achievement in several grades (kindergarten, first grade, and fifth grade), in two large French cohorts, with more than 16,000 children. Running linear mixed-effects models, we find that, independently of socioeconomic status, having more siblings is…

A 7-year longitudinal study was conducted as part of the French national cohort ELFE (N = 1095). The aim was to identify how and why early language skills at 2 years might predict later literacy skills assessed successively at 5, 7, and 9 years (LitSk5y; 7y; 9y). Using one and the same model, we also examined the relations between literacy skills…

Background: Young children's mathematics abilities may be divided between symbolic and non-symbolic skills. Lower performance of SES disadvantaged versus advantaged children has already been established in symbolic math. Aim: This study aimed to verify the effect of children's SES category on non-symbolic mathematical (numerical) performance.…

We present three statistical methods for causal analysis in life course research that are able to take into account the order of events and their possible causal relationship: a cross-lagged model, a latent growth model (LGM), and a synthesis of the two, an autoregressive latent trajectories model (ALT). We apply them to a highly relevant…

In this article, Ajay Chaudry and Heather Sandstrom review research on child care and early education for children under age three. They describe the array of early care and education arrangements families use for infants and toddlers; how these patterns have changed in recent decades; and differences by family socioeconomic status, race, and…

Using data on individuals of age 50 and older from 11 European countries, we analyze two economic aspects of subjective well-being of older Europeans: satisfaction with household income, and job satisfaction. Both have been shown to contribute substantially to overall well-being (satisfaction with life or happiness). We use anchoring vignettes to…

The concept of cultural capital has proved invaluable in understanding educational systems in Western countries, and recent work seeks to extend those insights to the diverse educational systems of other geographic regions. Using data from the 2000 Programme for International Student Assessment, the authors explored cultural capital in South Korea…

This article focuses on different ways in which socially disadvantaged parents engage with their children's educational experiences, and provides evidence of the role they play in opening or narrowing their children's access to education. Disadvantaged parents are usually associated with weak or difficult educational trajectories for their…

This article attempts to estimate the time cost of children in France for couples who do not forgo any income, on the basis of the INSEE 1998-1999 time use survey. Having a child involves an increase in domestic work and/or the dedication of occupational income to pay for childcare. The reduction in "time for oneself"--leisure and…

We examine the impact of sibling size on children's education. The theoretical framework shows an opposite relationship between the number of children within family and their school performance. Empirical works diverge between those corroborating this theory and those leading to ambiguous results such a positive correlation or the absence of any…

Empirical analyses of higher education subsidies are commonly misleading because they disregard appropriate age composition in the parental reference population. Further distortions occur depending on parents' categorization by income, occupation, or education. This paper addresses these issues using empirical data from Chile, France, and…

Individual factors, such as socioeconomic background and streaming choices (at the secondary level), contribute significantly to educational inequalities. Families have unequal resources to manage their children's schooling careers in an increasingly complex, decentralized system. The class or school attended widens gaps in academic results and…

Higher education costs are borne by four parties: taxpayers, parents, students, and philanthropists. From a cost-sharing paradigm, a number of public policy instruments may be viewed as devices to apportion higher education's costs among their potential bearers. (MLW)

Fundamental features of the financial aid systems for college students in 10 European countries are described, as are the theoretical framework and research topics of the study on which this report is based. The study is intended to determine the per capita degree of subsidization in each country; to describe the effects of the financial aid…

When Canadian parents look back on their own lives and the lives of their parents, they see changes across a generation that have profoundly affected their parenting experience, compared to when they themselves were young children. Supports for today's parents must take into consideration these changes that affect the care and nurturing of…