The Effect of Siblings on the Academic Self-efficacy and Self-educational Expectations of University Students

Abstract

With the introduction of Chinas one-child policy in the 1970s, much research was done to study only children on their well-being, personality, and academic achievement. However, few studies have focused on how they differ from non-only children regarding academic self-efficacy and self-educational expectations and the results have not come to an agreement. Thus, this study targeted the undergraduates in mainland China and those who come from the mainland but studying in Hong Kong. An online questionnaire was published and a total of 140 valid responses were collected. MANOVAs and multiple linear regression models were established in order to investigate the effect of singleton status, birth order, and gender of siblings on university students academic self-efficacy and self-educational expectations. The results showed that the singleton status, birth order, and gender of siblings had no significant influence on both academic self-efficacy and self-educational expectations, and a significant interaction between birth order and gender of siblings on the score of academic self-efficacy. This study adds to the recent status of the academic self-efficacy and self-educational expectations among undergraduates studying in Mainland and Hong Kong, only children and non-only children. However, due to insufficient sample size, gender and current years of study of students were not included in the comparison, which needs to be further investigated.