Effects of Family Size: A Critical Review of Literature Since 1973

摘要

The report is a critical and comprehensive review of the literature on the consequence of family size on children and parents, published since 1973. The post-1973 studies are consistent with earlier work in concluding that members of smaller families tend to fare better than members of larger families across a broad range of life outcomes. The more recent work has, for many outcomes, been especially persuasive because of the use of more sophisticated research and sampling designs and analytic strategies than was true of earlier research. In the past decade, there has been considerably more interest in the effects of family size on parents, and this work also tends to favor small families. Of particular note is the economic research that has estimated the financial costs, including opportunity costs of children.