Cognitive Skills, Non-Cognitive Skills, and Family Background: Evidence from Sibling Correlations

Silke Anger and Daniel Schnitzlein

Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) from Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät

Abstract: This paper estimates sibling correlations in cognitive and non-cognitive skills to evaluate the importance of family background for skill formation. Based on a large representative German dataset including IQ test scores and measures of non-cognitive skills, a restricted maximum likelihood model indicates substantial influences of family background on skill formation. Sibling correlations in non-cognitive skills range from 0.223 to 0.464; therefore, at least one-fifth of the variance in these skills results from sibling-related factors. Sibling correlations in cognitive skills are higher than 0.50; therefore, more than half of the inequality in cognition can be explained by family background. Comparing these findings with those in the intergenerational skill transmission literature suggests that intergenerational correlations capture only part of the influence of family on children's cognitive and non-cognitive skills, as confirmed by decomposition analyses and in line with previous findings on educational and income mobility.

Keywords: Sibling correlations; family background; non-cognitive skills; cognitive skills; intergenerational mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2015-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-ger, nep-lma, nep-neu and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Cognitive skills, non-cognitive skills, and family background: evidence from sibling correlations (2017)
Working Paper: Cognitive Skills, Non-Cognitive Skills, and Family Background: Evidence from Sibling Correlations (2016)
Working Paper: Cognitive skills, non-cognitive skills, and family background: evidence from sibling correlations (2016)
Working Paper: Cognitive Skills, Non-Cognitive Skills, and Family Background: Evidence from Sibling Correlations (2016)
Working Paper: Cognitive skills, non-cognitive skills, and family background: Evidence from sibling correlations (2016)
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