Effects of Birth Order on Personality, Success, and Favourtism

Favouritism

Personality

Hotz and Pantano (2015)

• Longitudinal study (10-14 yrs olds)
• National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979
• Mothers were given self reports

about all children over many years

Results: birth order decreases, parent’s rigidity decreased

firstborns:

• Are thought to be top of class
• More TV restrictions,
• Highly monitored

for homework completion

Limitations:

only asked mothers, didn't compare to transcripts

Mosil et al., (2015)

Results:

• Low maternal praise and low food fussiness
• Youngest children were less fussy
• More likely to consume unfamiliar foods
• Lastborn children have higher obesity rate

Limitaions: only Detroit data,

and low-income families

• Cross-sectional study (274 child-mother pairs)
• Low-income, high risk, Michigan families
• BATMAN coding technique and Questionarries
• Familiar and unfamiliar vegetables and desserts

Parental Favouritism:

The idea that parents treat their children differently in terms of closeness, support, etc.

Personality is one of the most important aspects of a child

Firstborn

Middleborn

• Impress their parents by succeeding in school and participating in sports

(Collins, 2006)

Lastborn

• Show the most leadership skills

The middle child can be interpreted in two ways:

• Can be socially strong or feel excluded

• Low self esteem and jealousy

(Eckstein, 2012)

There are characteristics of the youngest child that may have people assuming more negative thoughts in terms of the lastborns' personality.

(Collins, 2006)

• Can become the “second parent”

as more children are born

(Zakeri & Kimpour 2011)

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Rauer and Volling (2007)

J. Jill Suitor and Karl Pillemer (2007)

Details of the study...

Limitations:

• Study does not contain any longitudinal research that would help to confirm the findings

• Not being able to project the outcomes of the study onto every child

Findings:

• Equal affection: higher self-esteem, securely attached to partner, and less romantic distress in relationships

• Treated differently (whether they are favoured or not):

-Negative self-esteem

-More romantic distress in

relationships

• Survey conducted
• 200 young adults
• Tested whether parental favouritism has an effect on:
• An individual’s sibling jealousy
• Attachment styles
• Self-esteem in a romantic relationship

Details of the study...

• 426 older mothers'
• 1,823 adult children
• Tested to see if favouritism had a long-term effect on individuals

Limitations:

• Study centered in Boston
• National data not included
• Regional differences

ex: attitudes and behaviours

Findings:

• Lastborns more likely to be emotionally close to their mothers

• Relationship between mothers and the firstborn was more of a friendship based relationship

• Mothers would turn to their child for advice

Continuity and Change in Mothers’ Favouritism

Toward Offspring in Adulthood

How?

• 406 mothers (age 65-75) interviewed
• Mothers with two living adult children
• Questions made mothers choose between children

Findings:

• Mother’s showed to be most emotionally close to their youngest children

Future Research:

• Study fathers' favouritism

(Suitor, Gilligan, & Pillemer, 2013)

(Salmon, Shackelford, & Michalski, 2012)

Future Research:

• Vague definition of favouritism

• Use older participants

Findings

• Pattern of favouritism toward firstborn and lastborn

• Mothers tend to favourite:
• lastborn (most often)
• firstborn (2nd most often)
• middleborn (significantly less)

• Fathers favourite lastborn child,

but with less significant variations

• Gender: female participants perceived mothers

as favouring them more than male participants did

How?

• 306 college students (age 18-50)

• Completed survey about themselves, siblings, and perceptions of their parents’ favourite child

Birth Order, Sex of Child, and

Perceptions of Parental Favouritism

Zakeri's study results showed a correlation between parenting style and self-esteem.

The more supportive and accepting a parent is, the higher the child's self-esteem.

Our Conclusion...

However, there are some limitations that can be resolved through future research

Birth order is strongly correlated to

personality, success, and favouritism

Parenting Psychology

Effects of

Birth Order

on

Favouritism

Personality

Success

Birth Order

Group 11

Any Questions?

Defining Birth Order

• The order in which a child is born into a family of siblings

Three main components:

• Firstborn
• Middleborn
• Lastborn

• Only-children are also be considered a part of birth order

Thesis

Birth order is found to have a strong correlation to one’s outcome, specifically in three distinct areas of life:

1. Personality

2. Success

3. Favouritism

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Parenting Psych @Group11 3h

Birth Order is found to have a strong correlation to one’s outcome, specifically in three distinct areas of life:

1. Personality

2. Success

3. Favourtism

#Thesis #BirthOrder #Success

Things To Do

birth order and

Intelligence

the unsettled debate

Tweet our Thesis

Kirckcaldy, Furnham, and Siefen (2009)

Firstborns are more intelligent than laterborns.

Psychiatric patients

Future Research

(Kirckcaldy et al., 2009)

Closer examination is advised...

(Thorsen, Gustafsson, & Cliffordson, 2014)

(abstract thinking)

fluid

Researchers hypothesised...

INTELLIGENCE:

Participants can be grouped and measured accordingly

Two groups = more accurate depiction of birth order and cognitive ability

crystallized

(recalls prior learned knowledge through education)

Kirckcaldy, Furnham, and Siefen (2009)

Psychiatric participants who were...

• Firstborns
• Only-child

showed higher IQs than laterborns.

Please Note:

This association only pertained to children 11 years of age and older.

Education

• Larger families, lower levels of education
• Constraint on resources
• Available time decreases as you have more children

Future Research...

• Could explore level of education amongst adopted children
• Adopted children can have higher education

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