Birth order and academic primogeniture.

Altus, William D.

doi:10.1037/h0022705

Cited by 39 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…3) Altus (1965) are about twice as large as the percentages found in the present study, particularly in the case of male Ss. Thus, while Altus found that over 60% of the entering students are firstborn if the only child is included, the corresponding figure reported in this study is only 33%.…”

contrasting

confidence: 36%

“…However, while Alms ( 1965) reported that over 90% of his sample came from families of 1 through 4 children, Table 2 shows that only 48% of our Sample come from families of 1 through 4. The finding by Altus ( 1965) that small families are better represented in college than are large families may be a reflection of the greater preponderance of small families in the American society at large rather than, as Alms ( 1965) concluded, an indication of a close association between college attendance and family size. Similarly, the present findings may be a reflection of the typically large Arab family characteristic of the Middle East society.…”

mentioning

confidence: 84%

“…In the population at large, it is only expected that as average family size increases the proportion of firstborns in the total population would decrease. Consequently, percentages within each family size were computed, as shown in Table 3, and compared with similarly-obtained figures by Altus ( 1965 ) . Altus (1965) reported that "among representatives of the 2-child family, 62.96% were first born; 50.50% were firstborn among 3-child family representatives; and 49.72% were firstborn among those coming from families of 4" (p. Table 3 shows, the percentages of firstborn for the present sample are much smaller than those reported by Alms ( 1965) for every family size with the exception of the 2-child family.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cross-Cultural Study of Some Correlates of Birth Order

Diab

Prothro

1968

Psychol Rep

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Summa7y.-The purpose of the present study was to test the cross-culcural validity of the relacionship found in Western samples between birth order and college attendance, volucteering behavior, and level of academic achievement. Information concerning birth order and family size was obtained on three subsamples: ( a ) 200 freshman Arab students, ( b ) 97 Arab undergraduates, and (c) 45 Arab undergradcates placed o n the Dean's Honor List. Ss in samples ( b ) and ( c ) were asked whether they would volunteer to participate in small group experiments or not. In general, the results obtained in this study d o not corroborate previous findings on birth order. Thus, firstborns were not found to attend college in greater numbers than later borns. Furthermore, firstborns were not found to volunteer for small group experiments in greater numbers than later borns, nor was there any significant relationship found between birth order and level of academic achievement.In a recent review of the literature on birth order and social behavior, Warren ( 1966) concluded that "the most firmly established and persistent finding relative to birth order shows an overproportion of firstborn children in college" (p. 38). However, the above conclusion was based exclusively on studies utilizing Western samples. Thus, the first major purpose of rhe present study was to test the validity of the above finding in a non-Western population.Secondly, the present study attempted cross-culnual validation of the relationship between birth order and volunteering behavior. Warren ( 1966) concluded from his review of tie literature that "birch order can be expected to influence volunteering behavior when there is social pressure to volunteer" (p. 4 5 ) , whereby the volunteering rate of firstborns for a group experiment would exceed that of later born individuals. However, with the exception of one study carried on Uruguayan high school students by Varela (1964), this conclusion was reached on the basis of studies carried out on samples of students in the United States.Thirdly, this study also investigated the relationship of birth order to level of academic achievement. Schachter ( 1963) found that firstborn students rend to have higher grades than Iater borns. Alms (1965) also found firstborns to be overrepresented among Ss described as "quite bright," and Wolkon and Levinger ( 1965 ) pointed out that there are "differences in level of achievement between first and later born persons" (p. 74).In short, this study aimed to test the relationship between birth order and 'Thanks are extended to Mr. Assadour Choungourian for his help in tabulating some of the data in this study.

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contrasting

confidence: 36%

mentioning

confidence: 84%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cross-Cultural Study of Some Correlates of Birth Order

Diab

Prothro

1968

Psychol Rep

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“…Both the data recorded by Altus (1965a) and data recorded by Schachter (1963) During that period, the percent of first borns ranged from 52.5% between 1951-54 and a high of 66% in the period petween 1955-58 (Schachter, 1963).…”

Section: Educational Attainmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Between 1960, Altus (1965a collected data on all incOming students from one-, two-, three-and four-child families at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He found that the percentages of first borns from the two-, three-, and four-child families were respectively 63.0, 50.5, 50.5%.…”

Section: Educational Attainmentmentioning

confidence: 99%