Revisiting Parental Educational Involvement Through the Lens of Family Resource Allocation: Evidence from Non-Only Child Families
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Children with siblings often face disadvantages in acquiring resources and fostering personal development due to intra-family competition. Therefore, this study examined whether parental involvement in education differs between only-child and non-only-child families, focusing on family resource allocation. Survey data from 4,403 parents in Hangzhou, a first-tier city in China were analyzed using OLS and PSM regression analysis, including 2,040 parents of non-only children and 2,363 parents of only children. The results reveal that, compared to parents of only children, parents of non-only children exhibit significantly lower levels of home-based involvement (H1a, p < .001), indicating a negative effect of sibling presence on home-based involvement. While no significant differences are observed in school–family communication or in-school participation (H1b and H1c, p > .05). Both family economic capital and cultural capital are positively influence parental educational involvement among non-only-child families (H2, p<0.001). Parental educational expectations and parenting stress also exert significant positive effects on home-based involvement (H3, p<0.001), with the average marginal effect on home-based involvement being greater than that of other predictors. These findings suggest that sibling presence influences different dimensions of parental involvement, partially supporting the theory of resource dilution while also suggesting a compensatory effect through intra-family resource sharing. Moreover, economic and cultural capital may reshape home-based educational resources, with parents from disadvantaged backgrounds facing greater challenges in balancing educational involvement and fertility decisions.
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