Population Institute

ABSTRACT

This study examines the effect of the number of siblings and the preceding sibling interval on the dropping out of school behavior of a cohort of adolescent children from the third (1998-1999) and fourth (2002) follow-up surveys of the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Study (CLHNS), a multi-purpose panel study of mother-child pairs in Metro Cebu. The effect of the number of siblings and the preceding sibling interval on school dropout through the allocation of various resources is analyzed through crosstabulations and chi-square analysis, and also through sequential logistic regression. The resources are grouped into four: 1) material family resources (type of school, book ownership), 2) non-material family resources (mother’s parenting style, level of enforced family bonding), 3) cognitive resources (level of educational aspiration, attainment expectation with regards to the educational aspiration), and 4) non-family resources (club/organization membership, number of close female friends). Analysis is done separately by sex. While the crosstabulations show that the number of siblings has a direct influence on male and female school dropout, and that the preceding sibling interval has a direct inverse influence on male school dropout, such direct relationships are not confirmed by the logistic regression. Analysis of the crosstabulation and logistic regression results, however, indicates that the number of siblings and the preceding sibling interval influence school dropout indirectly through the allocation of various resources. It is found that the number of siblings indirectly affects male school dropout through the type of school, the level of enforced family bonding, the level of educational aspiration, and club/organization membership. Furthermore, the number of siblings affects female school dropping out through the type of school, book ownership, the level of enforced family bonding, and club/organization membership. As for the preceding sibling interval, it is found to affect male school dropout through the type of school and club/organization membership, and female school dropout through the type of school, book ownership, and club/organization membership. In these instances, having many siblings and close sibling spacing are observed to limit the amount and quality of allocated resources, a disadvantage which in turn makes children more likely to drop out of school. The main determinants of male school dropout are found to be household wealth, the level of educational aspiration, and club/organization membership, while the main determinants of female school dropout are household wealth, the type of school, book ownership, and club/organization membership.