Larsen Gibby, Ashley; Crockett, Kaelie (Brigham Young University)
Faculty Advisor: Larsen Gibby, Ashley (Family, Home, and Social Sciences; Family Life)
Past research has found a strong association between sibling characteristics and academic achievement, but very few studies have considered the impact of adoption. Family theories, such as resource dilution, stress, and compensation theories, suggest that adoption may negatively impact biological children's educational outcomes by reducing the resources available to these children and introducing stress and complexity into their family. However, despite its likely importance, no representative studies have investigated the impact of adoption on biological children, to our knowledge. Using the American Community Survey Data from 2013-2017, we test the relationship between having an adopted sibling and being held back in school among 1,684,608 biological children. We use logistic regression and included several child and household characteristics as controls. We find that having an adopted sibling is significantly associated with an increased likelihood of being held back but that this association is almost entirely explained by family size and socioeconomic status. Therefore, we conclude that although our findings suggest a negative impact of having an adopted sibling on non-adopted children, this impact may actually be capturing differences in socio-economic status, rather than adoption itself. Further investigations of the differences among children with or without adopted siblings are needed to understand the associated classed nuances.