Family Influence on Becoming a Parent: Sibling Correlations in Propensity to Enter Parenthood

Johan Carlsson Dahlberg, Stockholm University

We investigate if the link between family background and the propensity of becoming a parent in Sweden has changed for men and women born between 1936 and 1963 (1936 to 1958 for men). We do this by estimating brother and sister correlations in the propensity of entry into parenthood using multilevel event history models. Our main finding shows that the share of the variance in the propensity of becoming a parent that is attributable to family background, the so-called sibling correlation, has been more or less unchanged for the 23 male birth-cohorts we investigate. However, for the 28 female birth cohorts we investigate the sister correlation has slowly but steadily increased for each consecutive birth cohort. The correlation between brothers is throughout the studied period significantly lower than that of sisters. When controlling for education a significant part of the increase in sister correlation is explained.