Sibship size and educational attainment in nuclear and extended families: Arabs and Jews in Israel

Examines the relationship between number of siblings and educational attainment for three groups in Israel: Ashkenazi Jews, Oriental Jews, and Moslem Arabs. For both Jewish groups number of siblings has a negative effect on educational attainment. However, this pattern is not replicated for Moslems whose social organization is based largely on the extended family and patrilineage. Among Moslems the extended family plays an active supporting role vis-a-vis the nuclear family. This suggests that when the nuclear family draws on the support of an extended kinship, its size is less important for the educational attainment of children. -from Authors