鑽石舞台

We explore the relationship between sibling sex composition and locus of control, an important noncognitive skill that affects individuals' personal development and labor market outcome. Among girls aged 10-15 in China, girls with brothers score lower in locus of control than girls with sisters, i.e., they believe success depends more on external forces and less on their own actions. We attribute it to parental son preferences based on evidence regarding parents' evaluation for the importance of continuing family lineage, and the fertility policy stringency level. The channel is that parents allocate more productive resources like out-of-school education and parental school involvement to sons than daughters. Our findings highlight that having brothers may cause negative impacts on girls' noncognitive skills when parents have strong son preference.