Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2021.1931912
The effect of a sibling on the first-born child’s health: evidence from two-child families in China
Qundi Feng
Chung-Ping A. Loh
Fancun Meng
Tao Bu
Qinying He
Sažetak
The first-born child’s quality may be affected by a younger sibling
in a family based on the quantity-quality trade-off theory. Using
data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, we examine the
causal effect of having a younger sibling on the health of the
first-born child aged 2–12 in China. We use instrumental variables
to address the potential endogeneity of having a younger sibling
in the extended regression model. We found that having a sibling
significantly decreases the height-for-age z-scores of the first-born
child, and the greater age gap may alleviate the effect. Further
analysis shows that the effect is particularly strong for the preschool child under 6 years old and the child in a low-income family or the rural area. A sibling influences the first-born child’s
health by dietary pattern, physical activities, and medical services
utilization. The robustness checks, based on individual fixedeffects model and propensity score matching approach, validate
our findings, which suggest that future preventive intervention on
the deterioration of first-born child’s health during the implementation of the universal two-child policy.
Ključne riječi
Health; children; sibling; two-child policy; extended regression model; China
Hrčak ID:
302014
URI
Datum izdavanja:
31.3.2023.
Posjeta: 203 *