Academic Achievement and Teaching Younger Siblings

Abstract

The idea that teaching younger siblings encourages the intellectual development of the older child is investigated. A self-report measure of teaching younger siblings is developed and tested for effects on academic achievement in reading, language, and mathematics in a multivariate analysis of covariance, using data from a sample of seventhand ninth-grade public school students in a medium-sized southeastern metropolitan area. The analysis controls race, sex, year in school, and aspects of socioeconomic status, family configuration, and interaction with younger siblings. Students who report more than a minimal amount of teaching younger siblings are significantly higher than others in reading and language achievement. Furthermore, students with younger siblings who report very little teaching of those siblings are the only group with younger siblings who are significantly lower in reading and language achievement than students without younger siblings. The findings suggest that a moderate amount of teaching younger siblings may counteract any negative effects of the presence of younger siblings. There are no significant interactions between teaching and any of the control variables.