Sibling configuration and the right to fail – parental and children’s own scholastic aspirations in different types of families

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of the study was to explore the life circumstances of singletons and first-born children, and the importance of the size of the sibling group, by focusing on scholastic aspirations, both on part of the children themselves, but also of their parents. The study used data collected with around 3650 children and their parents, and apart from information on the children’s and their parents’ explicit aspirations, there was also information on the children’s estimation of their parents’ aspirations. While only small differences in parental explicit aspirations were found, substantial differences were found with respect to the children’s own aspirations and their estimations of those of their parents. Only children were more likely to estimate high scholastic aspirations on part of their parents, as were first-borns with siblings. First- also tended to express higher scholastic aspirations themselves. Theoretically, strategic parenting and role specialization were used to explain the results.