The effects of birth order and family size on self-concept

Nystul, Michael S.

doi:10.1080/00050067608255681

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…For example, no significant differences in ordinal position and family size were found for variables such as emotional empathy (Kalliopuska, 1984), psychological well-being and social-support levels in females (Fullerton, Ursano, & Wetzler, 1989), intelligence levels (Pillai & Ayishabi, 1984), personality (Sieber & Corboz, 1983), self-concept (Nystul, 1976;Parish, 199 I), and anxiety (Anantharaman, 1981). However, birth-order and family-size differences have been found in other outcomes, like achievement, which may be affected more easily by female characteristics.…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%

Birth Order and Family Size: Influences on Adolescents' Achievement and Related Parenting Behaviors

Sputa

Paulson

1995

Psychol Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The purposes of this study were to confirm birth-order and family-size differences in achievement, to confirm birth-order and family-size differences in parenting, and to examine whether parenting style and parental involvement serve as mediators of birth-order and family-size differences in achievement. Subjects were 195 ninth-grade boys and girls and their parents from urban, suburban, and rural communities in the southeast and the midwest. Questionnaire measures of adolescents' and parents' perceptions of parenting style and parental involvement were used. Birth-order and family-size differences were found in adolescents' achievement and perceptions of parenting style and parental involvement but not in parents' perceptions of parenting. However, these parenting characteristics did not mediate the differences seen in achievement by birth order and family size. Implications of these findings are discussed.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 96%

Birth Order and Family Size: Influences on Adolescents' Achievement and Related Parenting Behaviors

Sputa

Paulson

1995

Psychol Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Specifically, three studies (Mohan, 1981;Nystul, 1981;Page and Grandon, 1979) which examined the differential effects of family size categorized three members as a small family, four or five members as a medium-sized family, and six or more members as constituting a large family. Family Size had three categories: small (two or three members), medium (four or five members), and large (more than five members).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The selection of these categories was empirically based. Specifically, three studies (Mohan, 1981;Nystul, 1981;Page and Grandon, 1979) which examined the differential effects of family size categorized three members as a small family, four or five members as a medium-sized family, and six or more members as constituting a large family. The analysis showed that the mean rating on teaching style for teachers who experienced small families from ages three through five years (X = 2.51) was significantly lower than the mean rating for those from large families (X = 3.31) during the same age period (p < 0.03).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Early Family Experiences on Preschool Teacher Behavior

Mitchell

Dickerscheid

1985

Home Economics Research Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The relationship between perceived early family experiences and preschool teaching behavior was investigated. Subjects were 109 female student teachers in two laboratory preschool settings. Subjects completed a questionnaire about their early family experiences and their teaching behavior was recorded by trained observers using McDaniel's Observer Rating Scale (ORS). The nine dimensions of the ORS were reduced to two factors, Teaching Style and Teaching Technique, using a principal‐components factor analysis. Pearson product‐moment correla tions and a canonical variate analysis were used to analyze the data. Teaching Style was found to be related to family size, family crises, family activities, and family income adequacy. The saliency of these relationships was influenced by the age period in which the family experiences occurred. College major was related to Teaching Technique. Knowing about student teachers' family and ed ucational backgrounds gives some insight into the teaching behavior with pre school children.

show abstract

“…While studies by Kohn and Schooler (1969) and Nystul (1974) found no evidence of a relationship between birth order and self-concept, other studies have found that later-born children have less positive self-concepts (Eisenman, 1970;Sears, 1970). Griffore & Bianchi (1984) reported, in a study of more than 2,000 children, that self-concept was highest for boys, but not girls, who were only children.…”

mentioning

confidence: 92%

Birth-Order Effects in the Academically Talented

Parker

1998

Gifted Child Quarterly

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Birth-order position was studied among 828 academically talented students from a national sample collected by the Institute for the Academic Advancement of Youth of Johns Hopkins University. When compared to 1990 U.S. Census Bureau data, this sample was disproportionately composed of first-born students. However, much of this birth order effect can be explained by the covariate of family size, with small families overrepresented among the gifted. First-born students tended to get higher verbal scores on the Secondary School Admissions Test while youngestborn tended to do better in math. Students were administered the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, the Adjective Cheek List, the NEO Five Factor Inventory, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, and the Brief Symptom Inventory. Except for a mild relationship between birth order and perfectionistic type, there was no relationship found betweenbirth-order position and personality and adjustment. It is believed that often reported birth-order position effects are strongly related to the covariance of family size.Of the major personality theorists, ~Bdler (1963) deals most directly with the issue of birth order. Adler believed that the demands ot each birth-order position typically, but not inevitably, structure the way the parents treat the child and help define the child's resulting personality. According to Adler, first-horns are sensitized to issues of authority and power, which they attempt to gamin through high levels of achievement. During periods of stress they would be more dependent, resulting in greater conformity to the expectations of others. IIe expected these children to feel hostile, pessimistic, insecure, and more likely to be maladjusted as an adult than later-born children. When the first-born is also an only-horn, Adier expected a preoccupation with being the center of attention that persists into adulthood, producing interpersonal difficulty when this need is unmet. Adler expected middleborn children to be the most ambitious and competitive. They tend toward rebelliousness, have difficulty accepting the role of follower, and are likely to be better adjusted than either first-born or last-born children. Adler expected last-born children to be most likely to experience feelings of inferiority and to be predisposed to alcoholism. Studies in the General PopulationForer (1977) has described the following personality traits as being characteristic of first-borns: 1) high need for achievement, 2) high responsibility scores, 3) low test anxiety, 4) strong self-discipline, 5) need for approval by others, 6) susceptibility to social pressure, 7) conformitv to authority and regulation, and 8) task orientation. Later-borns are more oriented toward social relationships than to fulfilling task demands. In a study of predisposition to Type A behavior pattern among college students, Strube and Ota (1982) discovered that early-born (particularly first-born) students were most like...

show abstract

The effects of birth order and family size on self-concept

Cited by 6 publications

References 7 publications

Birth Order and Family Size: Influences on Adolescents' Achievement and Related Parenting Behaviors

Birth Order and Family Size: Influences on Adolescents' Achievement and Related Parenting Behaviors

Effects of Early Family Experiences on Preschool Teacher Behavior

Birth-Order Effects in the Academically Talented

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About