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The Effects Of Family Size On The Investment Of Child Education, Case Study At
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The Effects Of
Family Size On The
Investment Of Child
Education, Case Study Dr. Francess Dufie Azumah
Lecturer Department of Sociology, Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and Technology

At Atonsu-Buokro, Emmanuel Kwakye Adjei

Teaching Assistant Department of Sociology, Kwame
Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
Kumasi John Onzaberigu Nachinaab
MPhil Candidate in Sociology, Department of
Sociology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and
Technology

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ABSTRACT

The study critically examined family size and its effects on the investment of child’s education in Atonsu-
Bokro. Specific issues that were critically reviewed included among other things the influences of large family
size on school enrolment, the effect of family size on students‟ academic performance and whether family size
affects child’s educational attainment. A systematic sampling technique and purposive sampling for the study
was used to select houses in each street for the distribution of the questionnaire. Questionnaires served as the
main tool for data collection. The study targeted a sample population of 120 respondents out of which 60 came
from the small family and the other 60 from the large family in the study area. Findings from the study indicated
that children from large families mostly enroll late in school perform poorly and leave school early as compared
to those from small family. The results from the study revealed financial problem, lack of parental attention and
poor heath as the main causes. Other socio-economic variables also influenced child quality in the suburb.
Based on the findings, it can be concluded that large family size has negative influence on children education
in suburb. Recommendations were made, and among them were the need for intensive education on population
related matters for parents and various incentives packages to families with smaller sizes.

Keywords: Family, Family Size, Child, Education, Development

1.0 INTRODUCTION

High population growth has been noted to be a major obstacle to human development. The world’s population
which is currently estimated around 6 billion is expected to exceed 7 billion by 2015. Nearly all of this growth
is concentrated in developing nations, such as those in Africa and South Asia of which fertility rate remains
high (Vanzo et al, 2006). Many studies, mostly sociology, have found that high fertility exerts pressure on the
developing countries. It undermines opportunities for economic development, women reproductive health and
affects the quality of life by reducing access to education, nutrition, employment and other social amenities
such as health care centers and portable drinking water (Vanzo et al, 2006).. The quality of the labour force,
rather than the quantity is essential for economic development, and given the scarcity of resources, a country
can educate each worker better when there are fewer workers (Blake, 2001. The relationship between family
size and children’s outcomes was conventionally addressed in what is known as the „quantity-quality‟ model
(Becker and Nigel 2005). Both quality and quantity variables enter into the conscious parental decision-making
process; parents substitute child quality for quantity depending on market prices, income, child investment, and
their own consumption (Blake, 2006). Scholastic studies relating family size with children’s education in the
developing countries are few; besides, the results are not conclusive. Studies found little or no correlation
between the two variables (Altonji et al 2005). However, the extent to which family-level mechanism of family
size and children’s education operate in a particular society is conditioned by the specific cultural, political and

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socio-economic setting (Llyod, 2003). In Ghana, just like other developing countries, family size may have
negative or positive effect on a child’s education. This research was intended to examine the effects of family
size on the investment of child education in Atonsu-Bokro, a suburb of Kumasi.

1.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Family size has effects on quality of life. These include health, nutrition, educational attainment of children,
social status of families as well as their ability to adequately cater for the needs of their families. A family size
of five including parents is considered sizeable. Such a family is able to cater for the needs of its members.
Sizeable family is likely to enjoy the comfort of life with the choice to afford and enjoy identifiable luxuries of
life (Gouxet al, 2005). For example, small family may enjoy higher Socio-Economic Status (SES) and invest
more in education of its children. On the contrary, a large family size has its own implications on the people
concerned. Among them are poor health, low levels of education, low income status, unemployment, pressure
on natural resources due to over exploitation, poor childcare and nutrition (Hanushek, 2006). Recent research
by Conley and Glauber, (2006) suggested that children in large families receive small educational investments
and show poor educational attainment. Besides, findings on effects of siblings on educational attainment for
developing and developed nations suggested that on the average, children in larger families receive less
schooling, do not perform well academically and are less well-nourished. Smaller families are able to make
good investment in their children. Nevertheless, parents who invest heavily in their children (child quality) have
smaller families (child quantity). The shadow prices of these two commodities are crossing related and that
large family cause lower educational investments per child and vice versa (de la Crox and Doepke, 2003).
Literature on developed nations such as the United States identifies a trade-off between the number of children
in the family and educational attainment (Hanushek et al 2001). Family size in one way or the other affects
achievement. Data from the 1980 US Census 5-percent Public Use Micro Samples record indicates that older
children have opportunity to attend good schools. An additional younger sibling reduces the likelihood that the
one who comes after him or her attends college. Close birth spacing of children increases the likelihood of
dropping out of high school and decreases the odds of attending tertiary level schooling (Powell, 2002). It also
reduces the mother's labour force participation and increases the likelihood of parental divorce. In the
developing countries, effects of family size on child wellbeing to some extent show negative tendencies.
Analysis of a large, nationally representative survey shows that family size exerts a substantial negative
influence on the probability that a child will attend secondary school in Thailand. The underlying principle is
that a family resource available per child is associated with larger numbers of children. Decreasing birth rates
contribute to increase in educational attainment in Thailand (Knodel, 2001). It appears very unlikely that sub-
Saharan African countries will reach United Nations‟ Millennium Development Goals that were set as
benchmarks for reducing extreme poverty by 2015. According to Al Samarrai, S. and Peasgood, T. (2006), low
academic performance in Tanzania is related to a range of factors such as absenteeism, demands on children’s

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time and large composition of family. The situation is not quite different in Ghana. Outcomes of the research
conducted by Arthur (2005) in the Sunyani Municipality identified that relatively families of smaller sizes, that
is one to four (parents inclusive) had most of their children enrolled either in the tertiary or post-secondary
levels as compared to parents with family size exceeding two children. Large family size is prevalent in Atonsu-
Bokro. Thus the problems enumerated above clearly hold sway.

1.2 OBJECTIVES
In general, the study sought to examine the effects of family size on the investment of child education. This
study specifically aims at
 Ascertaining if larger family size influences enrolment of children in schools,
 Investigating if family size affects students‟ academic performance,
 Finding out whether family size affects child’s educational attainment

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 NUMBER OF SIBLINGS AND ENROLLMENT

Many policy makers see restricting family size as a good strategy for increasing average human capital
investment. This belief is consistent with the observed negative correlation between quantity and quality of
children both across countries and across households within countries. However, because parents
simultaneously choose the quantity and quality of their children, the observed correlation may reflect parental
preferences rather than the causal relationship of quantity on quality. In addition, the decision to have another
child may be positively correlated with the quality of the older siblings. We can therefore find conflict even
among family researchers who study the effects of family size on school enrolment. Family size in this context
refers to the total number of children in the child’s nuclear family including the child himself. In principle, the
impact of family size on child quality can be harmful or beneficial. One can imagine a situation where the larger
the family is, the more the resources are diluted. For instance, in an environment where credit markets are
imperfect, families with many children would less likely have all their children enroll in school than if they
have fewer children. Dalton (2005) using the 1990 US Public Use Micro Data Sample (PUMS) admits that
children living in larger families are more likely not to attend private school and be held back in school.
Although this causal relationship is moderated by birth order, it is identified that children who are younger than
20 and who still reside with their parents do not receive enough educational support. For developing countries,
studies by Lee (2004) finds negative impacts of family size on per child investment in education for South
Korean households. The argument is that in the larger size family, some of the children, mostly the older
siblings, may be encouraged to leave school early to assist in providing resources for the family, thereby giving
an advantage to younger siblings with respect to educational attainment and enrolment. Psacharopoulos et al
(2006) find that having more young siblings is associated with less schooling and more age-grade distortion

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among Peruvian children. In Africa, a national study was conducted in Cameroon (2005), in which researchers
collected the school histories of nearly 12,000 children from several birth cohorts. Led by Parfait Eloundou and
Julie DaVanzo, the Cameroon Schooling and Population Survey (CSPS) were designed to assess the trends in
schooling levels and inequalities, including those associated with family size. These results confirmed that in
comparison to children with fewer siblings, children with more siblings tend to enrol later, repeat grades more
often, and drop out of school earlier. Among children with six siblings or more, the mean age of enrolment was
about 5.8 years, as against 5.4 years for children in smaller families. Once enrolled, children in large families
were also more likely to repeat grades. Three of every four pupils coming from large families were behind
schedule in their grade progression. The proportion among smaller families was about one in every two.
Besides, female education is sacrificed at the expense of male education in a situation where the resources of
the family are diluted. In 2001, female school enrolment as a percentage of total enrolment was 49 percent and
44 percent at primary and secondary school levels respectively (Kikampikaho, 2002). In Ghana, family size
and school enrolment has been found to be negatively correlated. Outcomes of the research conducted by Arthur
(2006) in the Sunyani Municipality identifies that relatively families of smaller sizes that is, one to four (parents
inclusive) had most of their children enrolled either in the tertiary or post-secondary levels notwithstanding the
fact that parents with family sizes exceeding two children also had at most two children enrolling in the
secondary or tertiary level. On the other hand, many researchers also suggest that the negative relationship
between sibling size and school enrolment cannot be necessarily attributed to the number of children in the
family. VanWey (2003) in the U.S. has found that family size has no effect on education. Studies by Qian
(2005) exploited exogenous variation in family size caused by relaxations in China‟s One Child Policy to
estimate the effect of family size on school enrollment. Specifically, it used the relaxation that allowed a rural
household to have a second child if the first is a girl. First, it showed that the "1-son-2-child" rule increased
family size for first born girls. Second, it used the exogenous increase in family size to find that an additional
sibling significantly increased school enrollment of the first child. The advantage of this method was that it
addressed the endogenous relationships between family size and parental preferences over education and
between family size and the quality of the first child. The results showed that school enrollment for girls from
one-child households increased by 18-20% when parents had an additional child. The findings rejected models
which predict that quality is monotonically decreasing in quantity. Using household data from all five rounds
of Ghana Living Standard Survey administered in 1988/89, 1991/92, 1998/99 and 2005/06, Ajayi (2009)
estimates the effect of sibling sex in the educational outcomes of school-age children. Holding birth order fixed
in each of the survey sample, he concludes that the presence of sisters has positive effect on the child education
and that the negative effect of large family size and enrollment has decreased over time as Ghana moves towards
achieving gender parity in school enrollment.

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2.2 FAMILY SIZE AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

Although the inverse relationship between the number of siblings and children's educational performance has
been well established, explanations for this relationship are not straight forward. A number of arguments
suggest that siblings from larger families are found to do worse in academics than children from smaller
families. The reason is that parents of many children cannot afford to divide quality time with their children.
Value added quality time is hard to set aside to oversee the academic aspect of the children. On the other hand,
parents with two to three kids can afford the time to develop their children’s academic capabilities because their
time is only shared with less number of children (Goux, 2004). The economics of the family suggests that family
size can have an important effect on children’s educational attainment, and that there is a tradeoff between child
quantity and „quality‟ according to Becker and Lewis (1999), where child „quality‟ is proxied by educational
outcome. Elsewhere in the United States, children in small families perform better academically because of
the intensity of their interaction with their parents. This position argued that intensity of interaction is
demonstrated by parental involvement in the child’s study, leading directly to higher achievement on the part
of the child. With the increase in the number of children comes a diminution of adult-child interaction and
subsequently a lower achievement level for the children of larger families (Conley et al, 2005). Besides, using
models from psychology, Zajonc (1975) suggest that in order to have „brainier children‟ couples should keep
them few and far between. His research has recently been reported widely in the scientific as well as the popular
media. He argued that the average intellectual environment decreases as infants join a family. Belmont (2000)
used a sample of around 400,000 18-year-old males born in the Netherlands between 1980 and 1997. He found
a negative relation between family size and intellectual performance, measured as the score on a military
examination (Raven Progressive Matrices). This negative relation is however not consistent for all social classes
examined, where the social classes were based on children’s fathers occupation. There is evidence in Africa
which suggests that children with low achievement are more likely than those with higher achievement to drop
out (Hunter and May, 2003). According to Al Samarrai, S. and Peasgood, T. (2006), low academic performance
in Tanzania is related to a range of factors such as absenteeism, demands on children’s time and large
composition of family On the other hand, a number of studies from both developed and underdeveloped nations
have found that family size has no effect on academic performance. In the United States, there is a slight positive
effect on mathematics scores by children from large families. Perhaps they are more likely to have siblings who
recently studied the same math (Guo, 1999). Adding to the controversy, in studies using data from Norway and
the United Kingdom, Black et.al. (2004) and Iacavou (2004) used dummy variables for family size instead of
the traditional continuous variable and found that while family size and education outcomes are negatively
correlated for children from households with two or more children, children from one-child families perform
worse than children from two-child and three-child families. Skousen (2004) also posits that children with many
siblings have less pressure to fulfill all parental dreams and ambitions. Parents of many children recognize the

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differences among siblings and do not expect any one child to excel in all areas. Skousen maintains that, unlike
the family portrayed in the recent movie remake of Cheaper by the Dozen, "...large families (the non-blended,
all-from-the-same-two-parents kind) are seldom chaotic." Successful large families stress cooperation and
flexibility; they also encourage children to develop independence and patience. In Kenya for example, parent
may choose to have many children in the knowledge that future income remittances from their eldest children
will pay for the additional costs of raising a larger family. As remittances from eldest children accrue, parents
may be able to provide all the educational needs of the younger siblings who are in school to enhance their
performance (Gomes, 2002). Pryor and Ampiah‟s (2003) research on schooling in a Ghanaian village, talk
about education being regarded as a „relative luxury‟, with many villagers considering education not
worthwhile. According to them, negative association between child quality and quantity could be driven by
other factors. For example, parents‟ endowment (such as ability, wealth, education, and cultural factors) affects
the child quality by intergenerational transmission mechanisms. Low-endowed parents may produce low-
endowed children who may perform less in school compared to high-endowed parents. Again, one would
observe a negative correlation between quantity and quality but not driven by an exogenous change in the family
size. Therefore, this correlation would not be causal. It argued that family size is not an important determinant
of grades achieved by children in school. If parents should make decision to limit the size of their family, it
ought to involve reasons other than the academic performance of their children. Studies did not explore factors
such as whether the large family was intentional or accidental; large families within a larger religious or ethnic
community that supports families, hard work, and academic achievement probably differ from large families
that lack such a supportive community Bahr (2004).

2.3 FAMILY SIZE AND THE LEVEL OF CHILDS EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

The promotion of educational attainment is an important priority of policy makers. The economics of the family
suggests that family size can have an important effect on children’s educational attainment, and that there is a
tradeoff between child quantity and „quality‟ according to Becker et al (2001), where child „quality‟ is proxied
by educational outcomes. A number of arguments from both developed and developing nations suggest that
siblings are unlikely to receive equal shares of the resources devoted by parents to their children’s education.
Van Ejick (2001) argued that children’s attainment depends on inputs of time and money from their parents:
the more children there are in the family, the less both inputs. These inputs are not money alone, but other
essential things like time, attention among others. The effect of family size on educational attainment has been
found to be negative by Goux and Maurin (2005) in France. The claim is that children living in larger families
perform worse in school and so cannot reach far as compared to those in smaller families. They further
contended that the mechanism is due to overcrowded homes. When there is an increase in the number of
children, the total cost of investing a certain amount in per-child quality becomes higher and for a given budget
constraint, parents will lower the investment in per-child quality. This indicates that there is a negative relation

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between child quantity and child quality. Numerous studies of educational attainment in the United States have
shown that schooling is negatively correlated with sibling size. That is, children with fewer brothers and sisters
obtain more schooling than those with more siblings. Moreover, this negative relationship exists even after
family socioeconomic characteristics are controlled (Salvanes, 2005). This finding is often explained using an
argument of finite resources: parents have limited time, money, and patience to devote to the education of their
children, and those with fewer children can invest more per child. Later born children have to share the available
time and resources with their siblings for a larger part of their childhood. Blake (2004) used different survey
data sets from the United States, and found that the number of siblings correlated negatively with educational
attainment. Hanushek (2006) estimated the effect of the number of children on achievements in school, whereby
achievements are defined as test scores from the Iowa Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary tests. The main
finding in this paper was that family size had a significant negative relation with school attainment of children,
and he concludes that a distinct tradeoff between the quantity and quality of children is found to exist. The
situation is not quite different in some of the developing countries. Research has consistently found that socio-
economic status, most commonly measured by parental education, income and family size is a powerful
predictor of school attainment and dropout in India. It was argued that parents who have few children would
not only be able to provide more resources of an economic nature, but would also be in the position to offer
more adult-to-child contact, assuming that such contact would promote better grades. Students whose parents
monitor and regulate their activities, provide emotional support, encourage independent decision-making and
are generally more involved in their schooling and therefore are likely to reach far in education (Ainsworth et
al, 2005). In a recent survey of UIS data (Bruneforth, 2006) on Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Nigeria on the
characteristics of children who drop out of school, a number of conclusions were drawn. More than half of all
children aged 10-19 who had already left primary school did so without completion. How many children are
within the household is important in many cases and can be a „significant determinant‟ of access to their
education. The study indicated that with larger family size, the financial burden thus, potential work load is
greater; children are less likely to attend school, and often drop out. In Ghana, large family size has been
identified to have negative effects on children educational attainment. Arthur (2005) argued that a smaller
family size may be privy to better level of education, incomes, health and economic backing. On the other hand,
a higher family size will ultimately lead to low levels of education, income, health, welfare and economic status.
To ensure a better social as well as economic standing therefore, one would need to choose a family size that
would lessen the burden and effect of family size on the family as well as the individual members.
Notwithstanding, researchers raise questions about whether the empirical negative relationship between family
size and children's education implies a true causal effect of family size on children educational attainment. For
example, parents with higher socio-economic status (SES) or cognitive abilities may have smaller families and
invest more in education of each child than parents with lower SES or cognitive abilities; even in the absence

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of true causality, this may yield a strong negative correlation between family size and educational investments
(and attainment) of a child (Angrist et al., 2006). Recently, the effect of family size on educational achievement
was investigated using an instrumental variable approach. Black, Devereux and Salvanes (2005) used multiple
births as instruments for the number of children, to investigate the effect of sibling size on children‟s education
in Norway. They found a negative correlation between family size and educational attainment, but when they
included control variables such as birth order dummies, and when they used the twin births as instruments, they
found no significant negative effect of the number of children on educational attainment. They looked only at
Norwegian data and their results might not generalize to other countries. Moreover, in contrast to the results
linking family size to investments in some of the developed countries such as the United States and Spain,
(Caceres-Delpian, 2005) found little evidence that an exogenous change in family size effects educational
achievement such as highest grade completed and grade retention. This suggested that while larger families
induce parents to rearrange child inputs, parents do this in a way that may not affect child outcomes. The
evidence from many of the underdeveloped countries, however, is mixed. Israel fits well within these general
patterns and explanations. Among Israeli Jews, family size has a negative relationship with educational
attainment while among Israeli Muslims, who are less advantaged socioeconomically, live in less urban settings
and have much higher fertility rates, family size has been found to be positively related with educational
attainment (Shavit, et al 2004). The socioeconomic characteristics of the family are also more strongly related
to educational attainment among Jews than among Muslims. The authors suggested that unlike Jewish families,
Muslim families drew on a large kinship network beyond the nuclear family, which mitigates the financial,
emotional and time constraints associated with additional children. Three ideas emerge from this array of
evidence. First, the effect of family size on educational attainment is related to societies‟ level of development,
modes of production, and access to schooling, which in turn shape the relative influence of the family on the
schooling of children. Elsewhere on the continent, Gomes (2002) found that family size was positively
correlated with educational outcomes for first born children in Kenya. He posited that parents in Kenya can
expect to receive direct income returns from the educational investment outlays they made in their children.
Under these conditions, regardless of family size, parents were likely to distribute investment resources between
their children in such a way as to favour those most likely to proceed to higher education. Other things being
equal, parents favored eldest children in order to obtain income returns at the earliest date. Since parents could
control the labour income of their children, educationally advantaged children may later be induced to make
income remittances to parents. This attenuated the parental budget constraint, which operates to restrict family
size. Finally, the results of Ghana's 2000 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) provided insights into
families' preferences for investing in their children's education. Women with children aged 6 to 15 were asked,
"If parents have one son and one daughter and could send only one child to the university, which child should
they send?" While 53 percent of the women said that the decision should depend on the children's capabilities,

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39 percent said that the son should go to the university, compared with only 8 percent who said that the daughter
should go. The survey also found that mothers of children who had never attended school were more likely to
cite the cost of education as a reason for not educating their daughters than for not educating their sons
(UNESCO, 2003). This suggested that the negative relationship between sibling size and educational attainment
may not necessarily be proof on a negative effect of the number of children in Atonsu-Bokro community. It
might as well be that certain characteristics of parents, such as their educational attainments, affect both the
number of children as well as the quality of those children.

2.4 THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE

The study adopted the education theory. Education theory can refer to either speculative educational thought in
general or to a theory of education as something that guides, explains, or describes educational practice. In
terms of speculative thought, its history began with classical Greek philosophers and sophists, and today it is a
term for reflective theorizing about pedagogy, andragogy, curriculum, learning, and education policy,
organization and leadership. Educational thought is informed by various strands of history, philosophy,
sociology, critical theory, and psychology, among other disciplines. Besides, education theory can be
"normative (or prescriptive) as in philosophy, or descriptive as in science" (Kneller, 1964). In the first case, a
theory means a postulation about what to be ought. It provides the "goals, norms, and standards for conducting
the process of education"(Dolhenty, 2010). In the second case, it means "a hypothesis or set of hypotheses that
have been verified by observation and experiment" (Kneller, 1964). Whereas a normative educational theory
provided by a philosopher might offer goals of education, descriptive theory provides concrete data that will
help realize more effectively the goals suggested by the philosopher. A descriptive theory of education can be
thought of as a conceptual scheme that ties together various "otherwise discrete particulars. For instance, a
cultural theory of education shows how the concept of culture can be used to organize and unify the variety of
facts about how and what people learn" (Philip, 1999). Again, there is the behaviorist theory of education that
comes from educational psychology and the functionalist theory of education that comes from sociology of
education (Webb, 2010). Currently there are three main ways in which the term "theory" is used in education.
First, the obverse of practice--theorizing is thinking and reflecting as opposed to doing. Second, generalizing
or explanatory model of some kind such as a specific learning theory likes constructivism. Third, body of
knowledge- these may or may not be associated with particular explanatory models. To theorize therefore is to
develop these bodies of knowledge.

3.0 RESEARCH METHODS

3.1 RESEARCH SETTING AND DESIGN

Geographically, Atonsu-Bokro is found in the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly under Asokwa sub-
Metropolitan. It forms part of main Atonsu. Asokwa Metro consists of towns such as Ahinsan, Asokwa,

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Chirapatre, Kaase, Atonsu and Gyinyasi. It has a total land area of 794 square kilometer (Census Department
of Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, 2004). Economic activities of the indigenous people are trading. The town
can boast of social amenities such as electricity, pipe-borne water and school buildings. The researcher chose
Atonsu- Bokro as a study area because of the large family size prevalent in that area and its effects on investment
of children’s education.

Concerning research design, a quantitative data was collected for the analysis as the study examined both
smaller and larger families in the nuclear family system. The reason was that more than one case was
investigated and so the quantitative approach was needed to enable the researcher grasp and understand
individuals, the community and the social issue to make recommendations that take into account the special
and peculiar circumstances surrounding the problem investigated.

3.2 SAMPLE SELECTION

For the purpose of this study, the researchers adopted the use of systematic sampling and purposive sampling
for the study. A systematic sampling technique was used to select houses in each street for the distribution of
the questionnaire. In using systematic sampling, sampling interval is first calculated by dividing population
(816 houses) by the sample size (120 houses), given a sampling interval of 7. This means that every 7th house
in each street was selected from the community. Each house was then allocated one (1) questionnaire. In
addition, purposive sampling was used to select households within these houses. The units of the sample were
selected not by random procedure but they were intentionally picked for the study because of their
characteristics or because they satisfied certain qualities which were not randomly distributed. The respondents
who were available and met the researcher’s objectives were therefore considered in the various households.

3.3 DATA COLLECTION

The method that was used for this study, thus the collection of data was questionnaire. The reason was that the
data required were quantitative and thus could be elicited by means of questionnaires. Both close-ended
questions and open ended questions were employed. The researcher adopts this method over the other data
collection method primarily because it keeps the researcher very focused on the subject under study.

3.4 ANALYZING DATA

The data which was gathered from the questionnaires was cleaned up and summarized. After that it was coded
and fed into SPSS to generate a descriptive picture of the data gathered on such themes as family size and
educational attainment, family size and academic performance, sibling number and dropout, and socio-
demographic characteristics of respondents.

4.0 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents the data, analysis and discuss the results of the study. The findings are discussed vis-à-
vis the objectives of the study and assumptions made with the view that family size has significant effect on the

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level of educational attainment, performance and enrollment. The study targeted a sample population of 80
respondents out of which 40 came from the small family and the other 40 from the large family. The various
responses given by the respondents were reduced to frequency tables and bar charts using S.P.S.S. (Statistical
Package for Social Sciences).

4.1 SOCIO DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTIC OF RESPONDENTS

Demographers study family change to understand both individual and societal behavior (Goldscheider, 1995).
The demographic data used here were collected from 36 respondents who were still in school and 24 who were
out of school in the small family and the remaining 60 respondents were from the large family. Of this 36 were
students and 24 were those out of school. The purpose was to find out whether the size, structure and
composition of family had significant effects on the child’s education.

Based on the gender distribution of respondents in both small and large family, majority of the respondents
were males in both families, thus 65.4% in the small family and 61.5% in the large family, whilst the minority
constituting 34.6% and 38.5% were females found in both the small and the large family sizes respectively.
Literature reviewed affirmed the outcome above, thus, female education is sacrificed at the expense of male
education in a situation where the resources of the family are diluted (Kikampikaho, 2002). From the
presentation, it can be deduced that Atonsu-Bokro community had more males in education than females since
the majority of the respondents are males in both the small and the large size family.

Concerning the age group of respondents both in small and large families, in the small family, 15.4% children
fell within the age group of 7-10 years. Another 15.4% children fell within 11-14 years while 69.2% were found
within the age group of 15-18. However, out of 36 student’s respondents from the large family, 11.5% fell
within the age group of 7-10 years, 34.6% fell within the age group of 11-14 years and 53.8% were also found
within the age group of 15-18 years.

In the small family, it was observed that majority of the students in both small and large families in the Atonsu-
Bokro community were between the ages of 15 years and 18 years, representing 69.2% and 53.8% respectively.
Children found in this age group were mostly found in Senior High schools, universities and other tertiary
institutions. On the other hand, those within the age group of 7-10 and that of 11-14 were mostly found in
primary and Junior High levels as the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) policy demands.
With regards to the religious background of respondents, from the small family were 92.3 % Christians as
against 7.7% Muslims. Also from the large family 65.4% Christians and 34.6% Muslims. The Christian
dominance was due to the fact that Muslims are few in the Atonsu-Bokro.

4.2 SIBLING NUMBER AND SCHOOL ENROLLMENT

Relationships between family size and children schooling were observed. reveals 50%, 30.8% 11.5%, 3.8% and
another 3.8% in the smaller family, indicating that they enrolled in school at the ages of two, three, four, five

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and six whilst in larger families, 3.8%, 7.7%, 11.5%, 30.8% and 46.2% stated that they enrolled at the ages of
two, three, four, five and six respectively. The statistics given in both small and large families proved that
families with small sizes in number were likely to have their children enrolled earlier than large family size.
The first, second or third children are likely to be enrolled in the early stages but the next ones were often
delayed at home due to financial reasons, stress in picking the children from school and the like. This finding
confirms and illuminates the national study (2000) conducted in Cameroon. Led by Parfait Eloundou and Julie
DaVanzo, the Cameroon Schooling and Population Survey (CSPS) were designed to assess the trends in
schooling levels and inequalities, including those associated with family size. Their results confirmed that in
comparison to children with fewer siblings, children with more siblings tend to enroll later, repeat grades more
often, and drop out of school earlier. Once enrolled, children in large families are also more likely to repeat
grades. Three of every four pupils coming from large families were behind schedule in their grade progression.
The proportion among smaller families was about one in every two.

4.3 SIBLING POSITION AND ENROLLMENT

Majority of the students respondents from both small and large families were first-born children and constituted
61.5% and 34.6% respectively, while the minors were second, third and the fourth-born represented 38.5%
and 23.1% , 19.2% in that order. This finding buttresses the argument made by Salvanes (2005) that later born
children have to share the available time and resources with their siblings for a larger part of their childhood.
Falbo (2003) also noted that perhaps parents of first-born children have higher expectations and affirm their
children’s achievements more than do more distracted parents of later born children.

4.4 FAMILY SIZE AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

This study was also conducted to the establish relationship between the number of siblings and educational
performance. It was observed that 26.9 %, 23.1 % and others 50% fell between class positions of 1st-2nd, 3rd-
4th while half of the 26 respondents fell out of the range. Here, the results show that at least half of the
respondents in the small family fell between class positions of 1st-4th in the first term. However 15.4 %, 19.2
% and other 65.4 % fell between class positions of 1st-2nd, 3rd-4th whilst majority of them fell below the range.
This means that the positions of the students from the larger family size in the first term were discouraged.
With regards to respondents’ class positions in the second term in both large and small family size, 30.8 % ,
34.6% and others 34.6% fell between class positions of 1st-2nd , 3rd-4th while the minors fell below the range.
However, from the larger family, 11.5%, 19.2% and others 69.2% fell between class positions of 1st-2nd, 3rd-
4th while majority of them fell out of the range. These results denoted that majority of respondents within the
larger families performed below standard, indicating that their positions in the first two terms were poor. This
study buttressed the argument that children from small families were more likely to perform better in academics
than children from large family size, (Iacovou, 2004). The size of families has some effect on academic
performance of students. Students who come from larger families tend to have lower levels of achievement and

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lower levels of secondary graduation, on average than children who come from smaller families. The argument
is that parents of many children cannot afford to divide quality time with their children. Skousen (2004) also
observed that children with many siblings have less pressure to fulfill all parental dreams and ambitions. Parents
of many children recognize the differences among siblings and do not expect any one child to excel in all areas.

4.5 REASON FOR POOR PERFORMANCE

The respondents were asked whether they were discouraged by their performance. Respondent from both small
size family and the large size family admitted that they were discouraged by their academic performance.
However, out of 26 respondents in the small family, 13 respondents representing 50% in the small family
lamented that they were indeed discouraged by their academic performance as against half of them who said
they were not discouraged. Meanwhile, 19 out of 26 respondents constituting 73.1% from the large family said
they were discouraged while only 7 respondents representing 26.9% stated that they were not discouraged. The
results confirmed the suggestion made by Bahr (2004) that there is additional a negative association between
child quality-quantity and could drive by other factors. For example, parents‟ endowment (such as ability,
wealth, education, and cultural factors) affects the child quality by intergenerational transmission mechanisms.
Low-endowed parents may produce low-endowed children, who may perform less in school compared to high-
endowed parents and perhaps children from the small families in the Bokro community were affected by such
problems.

4.6 FACTORS ATTRIBUTED TO POOR ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

In the smaller family 23.1%, 11.5%, 3.8% and 7.7% stated that their performance was negatively affected by
sickness, laziness, financial problem and parental attention respectively as against 14 respondents who had
nothing to worry about. On the other hand, in large family 3.8%, 23.1%, 26.9% and 19.2% stated that they were
affected by sickness, laziness, financial problem and parental attention respectively while 26.9% were not
affected by any of the problem. Based on the findings, financial problems and lack of parental attention were
common in the larger size family as compared to the smaller size family in the Atonsu-Bokro community. The
study supported the popular argument made by (Conley et al 2006) that children in small families perform better
academically because of the intensity of their interaction with their parents. This position argued that intensity
of interaction is demonstrated by parental involvement in the child’s study, leading directly to higher
achievement on the part of the child. With the increase in the number of children comes a diminution of adult-
child interaction and subsequently a lower achievement level for the children of larger families.

5.0 RECOMMENDATIONS

Large family size has effects on quality of life. These include health, nutrition, educational attainment of
children, social status of families as well as their ability to adequately cater for the needs of their families. It is

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therefore recommended that such areas of interest be given much attention by the Ghana Health Service and
National Population Council. This should be in terms of publishing population related issues in the mass media
including the national dailies, radio and television broadcasts. Knowledge of the national population policy and
its appendages such as contraceptive usage are vital for attaining smaller family sizes. Population related matters
could also be given prominence in the preparation of the curricula of schools by the Centre for Curriculum
Development Division (CDD) of the Ghana Education Service (GES) and Ministry of Education (MOH), since
an early understanding of these issues can go a long way to make people become conscious of their effects. In
addition, incentives including scholarship to study in the tertiary levels and reduced cost of hospital attendance
fees should be extended to families with smaller sizes. This could be executed through opportunities such as a
Special Health Insurance schemes (Government) and Scholarship scheme (Ghana Education Service). This
obviously would motivate others towards having small families. The other side is to demand full payments for
services provided for households with larger family sizes. Educational concerts and theatres should also be
promoted in schools and community centers to re-echo the need for smaller family sizes. These could be done
in collaboration with the Ministry of Information. Making people economically independent should also be
seen as a major dimension to encouraging smaller family sizes. When people are employed, they are in the
position to offer better education to their children; hence the need to making them aware of the implications of
a choice of a large family size. When spouses are also gainfully employed and contributing their quota to the
family’s income, it puts the families in better positions to adequately cater for their children. Besides, more time
is also spent away from home thus discouraging the frequency of sex at the home. This would reduce the
tendency for possible pregnancies. The government should thus be active in helping to provide jobs for the
majority of the populace. Religious institutions, counselors at hospitals, voluntary organizations,
Environmental Protection Agency and non-governmental institutions should intensify their education on the
need to maintain smaller families even in the pace of having either more males or females as against the
corresponding sexes in the family. These could go a long way to promote the worth and capability of both sexes
as is being done by advocates of girl-child education. Churches should also stop propagating messages that
encourage people to populate the earth since psychologically people are motivated as such to give birth to large
family sizes. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should also show its concern in this respect since a
larger population would result in over-exploitation of the environment and its resources and create the condition
for worsening the already deprived and degraded environment.

6.0 CONCLUSION

Many theoretical and empirical studies such as „Quality, Quantity‟ model (Becker and Nigel, 2005) and
Cameroon Schooling and Population Survey CSPS (2005) indicated that the number of siblings in a family has
a significant effect on educational achievements. This paper has attempted to investigate the extent to which a

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sibling's number had influence on school enrolment, performance and the level of educational attainment in the
Atonsu-Bokro community in Kumasi. It was proven that, there was causal relationship between family size and
child’s education. On the more popular argument for that stance is the suggestion that children in large families
perform bad academically, tend to enroll later, repeat grades more often, and drop out of school earlier. The
factors were mainly due to financial problem, parental attention, poor health and sibling position among others.
However there are other variables that influence the academic performance of students such as parents own
level of education, low-income status, unemployment, intelligent quotient of the child, and the environment.

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