Bougma Moussa, LeGrand Thomas K, Kobiané Jean-François
Department of Demography, University of Montreal, 3150 Jean-Brillant, Montreal, Quebec, H3T 1N8, Canada,
Demography. 2015 Feb;52(1):281-313. doi: 10.1007/s13524-014-0355-0.
As evidenced in Western rich countries, Asia, and Latin America, lower fertility allows couples to invest more in each of their children's schooling. This postulate is the key rationale of family planning policies in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, most studies on Africa have found no correlation or even a positive relationship between the number of children in a family and their educational attainment. These mixed results are usually explained by African family solidarity and resource transfers that might reduce pressures on household resources occasioned by many births as well as methodological problems that have afflicted much research on the region. Our study aims to assess the impact of family size on children's schooling in Ouagadougou (capital of Burkina Faso), using a better measure of household budget constraints and taking into account the simultaneity of fertility and schooling decisions. In contrast to most prior studies on sub-Saharan Africa, we find a net negative effect of sibship size on the level of schooling achieved by children--one that grows stronger as they progress through the educational system.
在西方富裕国家、亚洲和拉丁美洲，较低的生育率使夫妻能够在每个孩子的教育上投入更多。这一假设是撒哈拉以南非洲地区计划生育政策的关键依据。然而，大多数关于非洲的研究发现，家庭中孩子的数量与其受教育程度之间没有关联，甚至存在正相关关系。这些复杂的结果通常归因于非洲家庭的团结以及资源转移，这可能减轻了多子女家庭资源的压力，同时也归因于困扰该地区诸多研究的方法问题。我们的研究旨在评估家庭规模对瓦加杜古（布基纳法索首都）儿童教育的影响，采用更好的家庭预算约束衡量方法，并考虑生育率和教育决策的同时性。与大多数此前关于撒哈拉以南非洲的研究不同，我们发现兄弟姐妹数量对孩子的受教育水平有净负面影响——随着孩子在教育体系中的进展，这种影响会变得更强。
