Family Resource Allocation after Firstborns Leave Home: Implications for Secondborns' Academic Functioning

• Author: Alexander C. Jensen,Shawn D. Whiteman,Julia M. Bernard,Susan M. McHale
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12203
• Date: 01 September 2017
• Published date: 01 September 2017

Family Resource Allocation after Firstborns Leave

Home: Implications for Secondborns’ Academic

Functioning

ALEXANDER C. JENSEN*

SHAWN D. WHITEMAN

†

JULIA M. BERNARD

‡

SUSAN M. MCHALE

§

This study assessed secondborn adolescents’ perceptions of changes in the allocation of

family resources following their firstborn siblings’ departure from home after high school,

and whether perceived changes were related to changes over 1 year in secondborns’ aca-

demic functioning. Participants were secondborn siblings (mean age =16.58, SD =0.91)

from 115 families in which the older sibling had left the family home in the previous year.

Allocation of resources was measured via coded qualitative interviews. Most (77%) second-

borns reported increases in at least one type of family resource (i.e., parental companion-

ship, attention, material goods), and many reported an increase in multiple types of

resources in the year following their older sibling’s departure. Consistent with resource

dilution theory, perceptions of increases in fathers’ companionship, fathers’ attention, and

mothers’ companionship were related to improvements over time in secondborns’ academic

functioning.

Keywords: Academic achievement; Family process; Family resources; Family transitions;

Parent–adolescent relationships ; Resource dilution; Siblings

Fam Proc 56:766–780, 2017

Family social and material resources play a critical role in youth educational achieve-

ment (Coleman, 1988; Davis-Kean, 2005): When children receive more family

resources—including parental time and attention—they exhibit better academic function-

ing and higher attainment (Christenson, Rounds, & Gorney, 1992; Davis-Kean, 2005;

Okagaki & Frensch, 1998). A range of factors can affect the extent of family resources,

including parents’ income and education (Davis-Kean, 2005; Parker, Boak, Griffin, Ripple,

& Peay, 1999), but the distribution of resources within families is shaped, at least in part,

by the number and characteristics of offspring. According to resource dilution theory,

because family resources are finite, children in larger families receive fewer resources, on

average, than those from smaller families. In turn, diminished resources are expected

to lead to lower levels of achievement in children from larger families (Behrman, Pollak, &

Taubman, 1989; Blake, 1989; Downey, 2001; Lawson & Mace, 2008; Steelman,

Powell, Werum, & Carter, 2002). Despite some evidence linking sibship size to academic

*School of Family Life, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.

†

Human Development and Family Studies, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.

‡

East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN.

§

Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Alexander C. Jensen, School of Family

Life, Brigham Young University, 2086 JFSB, Provo, UT, 84602. E-mail: alexjensen@byu.edu

766

Family Process, Vol. 56, No. 3, 2017 ©2015 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12203