Women with more siblings have bigger families

Growing up in a large family often means taking care of younger siblings. Some argue that these extra chores, like warming a bottle or babysitting a little brother, count as “parentification,” in which kids take on a parenting role too early. Proponents of this view suggest that girls from larger families are less eager to become parents themselves. But data from the General Social Survey suggests the opposite: women who grew up in big families tend to have more kids of their own. On average, each additional sibling is associated with having 0.2 more children. As it turns out, asking your daughter to babysit probably won’t put her off motherhood.

by Isabella Dini