In present study, the school, social and activities competencies of neurotypical siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD-NTDsibs) were examined. A total of 146 children, including 66 ASD-NTDsibs and 80 children both themselves and their siblings are neurotypical (NTC-NTDsibs), participated in the study, which was designed in the…

Problem statement: An individual's childhood years are pre-school period years when he/she makes progress in every aspect of development. Before getting to know his inner circle, the child starts to know himself/herself first. People's opinions about the child are highly important as long as these people are close to the child and valuable for…

Using the NLSY79 and NLSY79 Child and Young Adult Surveys, we investigate the effect of the age difference between siblings (spacing) on educational achievement. Because spacing may be endogenous, we use an instrumental variables strategy that exploits variation in spacing driven by miscarriages. The IV results indicate that a one-year increase in…

Young-for-grade students have been shown to receive lower grades and have a higher likelihood of retention compared to their oldest peers upon kindergarten entry. Our study of 1474 economically disadvantaged first-time kindergarteners investigates if preschool attendance may ameliorate some of the risks potentially associated with being…

The present study investigated the relationships between the timing of women's first childbirth and their postsecondary education using an inner-city minority cohort. The study sample (695 females) was drawn from the Chicago Longitudinal Study (CLS), an ongoing investigation of a panel of low-income minority children (94% African American) born in…

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…

This study examined age, gender, birth order and self-perceived level of achievement and popularity, as predictors of anxieties, fears and depression in Chinese adolescents. A sample of 398 rural Chinese adolescents participated in this study. Gender, academic performance and popularity have been found to make the greatest contributions to the…

The author reviews some selected literature that reports higher academic achievement for first-borns and findings that large enough age gaps between siblings can offset first-born advantages in achievement. (Editor/SJL)

Zajonc has proposed that the decline in high school achievement since 1965 can be explained by the trend from 1947 to 1962 toward larger, closer-spaced families. This study tested this theory with data on students in Iowa high schools. Overall, the results raise doubt about this hypothesis. (Author/CTM)

Very close age spacing was an obstacle to high academic performance for later borns. In family relations and self-esteem, first borns scored better and performed in school as well as their potentially much more able younger siblings, regardless of age spacing. (Author)

This research note reports an investigation into the relationship tetween date of birth and early performance at school and especially into whether there were more poor achievers'' born during the summer months than in other months. (Author)

Literature on the relationship between sibling structure and academic abilities and achievement since 1978 is reviewed. As the findings generally refute the confluence model of the influence of sibling structure, alternative interpretations are presented with implications for further research. (Author/BS)

The general question of how well parents' reports about their preschool children predict school performance was addressed in this study. In addition, the effects of several population characteristics--sex, socioeconomic status (SES), child's age, and birth order--upon the validity of parent reports were investigated. Parents of 391 preschool…

Reports results of several studies designed to ascertain how adolescents treat each other and how teachers treat adolescents in the high school. Variables investigated included sex, age, and birth order differences, as well as relationships of reported behaviors to academic achievement and self-concept. (Author/DB)