Reestimating Zajonc's confluence effects on the SAT.

In response to the article by R. B. Zajonc (see record 1987-02628-001) on the confluence model and prediction of national Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, the present authors reestimate Zajonc's model using their estimates of proportion of high school seniors taking the SAT. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order, need achievement, and conformity.

"… first born persons have a higher need for achievement than later born persons; first born females exhibit greater resistance to influence… and first born males exhibit less resistance to influence than later born males." The results are explained in terms of the psychological significance of order of birth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order and identification.

Observations drawn from different sources suggest that as compared with later-born individuals, the 1st born participates in a more intense mothering relationship, has a shorter duration of interaction with siblings, turns to his parents in the absence of other role models, is exposed to greater parental expectations regarding responsibility and achievement, develops a harsher superego, and is more inclined to choose occupations involving a parent-surrogate role—in short, that he is more adult oriented than later borns. It was hypothesized, therefore, that 1st borns would demonstrate greater internalization of parental norms and values. Results supported the hypothesis for inhibitory-disciplinarian behaviors but not for emotionally supportive-rewarding behaviors. Implications for processes of identification and super-ego development are considered. (31 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order and personality.

Investigated 6 personality variables for birth order differences in 339 male and 447 female and 210 male and 266 female undergraduates. Ss in the former were studied for dogmatism, ambiguity tolerance, and rigidity. Measures of (a) internal-external locus of control, and (b) social responsibility were administered to the latter. Both samples were given the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Data were analyzed in 2 * 3 factorial analysis of variance design: 2 levels of sex and 3 levels of birth order (only child, 1st born, and later born). It was found that (a) later borns from 2-child families were more external than those from larger families; (b) later borns from 2-child families were more external than only children or 1st borns from 2-child families; (c) only children and 1st borns were more socially responsible than later borns; (d) 1st borns were more rigid than only-child and later-born Ss; and (e) only-female Ss manifested higher need for approval than only males. (26 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order: Reconciling conflicting effects.

Secular trends in test scores are accurately predicted by trends in aggregate birth orders. The trend data contradict individual-difference analyses that show birth order as a poor predictor of individual test scores. This article demonstrates why the 2 formulations of the problem—the individually distributed birth order analysis and aggregate-pattern analysis—generate different results. A meaningful interpretation is given by the confluence model, a theory specifying the process whereby the intellectual environment modulates intellectual development. The authors introduce the concept of collective potentiation that specifies collective side effects of birth order. In contrast to genetic theories, the confluence model quantifies the differential environmental contributions to intellectual development of successive siblings, and it offers several well-confirmed derivations that genetic and other developmental theories cannot explain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order and scholastic aptitude.

It was hypothesized that entering 1st-born college students should earn higher mean scores on the Mathematics Aptitude test (MAT) and the Verbal Aptitude test (VAT) of the College Entrance Examination Board than would later borns. Data on 1,878 students entering in 1960 and 1961 were available though only those (80% of the total) coming from families of 2, 3, and 4 children entered in the study. The hypothesis held for female students on the VAT (t of 3.45), but the corresponding t of 1.59 favoring the higher mean score of first-born males on the VAT is not statistically significant. It is concluded that 1st borns in college may be verbally more able than later borns. In mathematical aptitude, no differences appear. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order and social behavior.

Recent research of Schachter has redirected a longstanding interest in physiological, psychological, and sociological correlates of order of birth to affiliative or withdrawal tendencies as birth-order correlates. The most firmly established and persistent finding relative to birth order shows an overproportion of 1st-born children in college. Substantial evidence also exists showing (1) 1st-born to be more susceptible than later born to social pressure and (2) 1st-born women, when apprehensive, to be more strongly attracted than later-born women to the company of others. Studies relating birth order to conformity or dependence, delinquency, alcoholism, and schizophrenia as well as college attendance and affiliative behavior are reviewed. (2p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order and sociometric choice.

It is hypothesized that sociometric choice is, in part, affected by social factors. One evaluates his own feelings about a person by comparing his feelings with those of others. First borns, who are characterized as dependent, are assumed to be more influenced by such social determinants of sociometric choice than are later borns. Implications of these assumptions are tested in a sociometric study of 15 fraternities and sororities. Within these groups, first borns choose more popular people and exhibit greater similarity of sociometric choice than do later borns. In addition, the data indicate that first borns are considerably less popular than are later borns. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order and need affiliation.

In order to determine whether previously observed relations between birth order and affiliative tendencies were motivationally based, or simply reflected differences in kinds and/or strengths of instrumental behaviors acquired to satisfy equally strong affiliation needs, a sample of 22 (14 females, 8 males) first-born individuals was compared with an equivalent sample of later borns on a projective measure of need Affiliation (n Aff). As assessed by a median test, the first borns had a significantly and markedly higher average n Aff score, thus supporting the generally accepted, though tacit and hitherto untested, motivational interpretation of previous findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order, discrimination in admissions, and socioeconomic status.

Contends D. P. Campbell (see record 1972-11560-001) neglected an explanation for the finding that highly educated occupations have much higher proportions of firstborn children; this explanation could have been deduced from certain sociological generalizations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order and reactions to frustration.

Areanalysis of an experiment on the relation between frustration and aggression, employing 108 male undergraduates from New York University. The findings indicate that later born Ss react with greater annoyance to a frustrating agent than 1st born Ss. These results appear to contradict those reported in a previous study which found that 1st born males from Yale University react more strongly than later born males to frustrating acts by others. This discrepancy between New York and Yale college students in the domain of hostile behavior appears to parallel a similar inconsistency in the domain of affiliative behavior as reported in 2 recent studies. We suggest the consideration of sociocultural factors in any effort to interpret these differences, since we regard birth order, like birthplace, etc., as an "ecological" variable rather than a psychological one. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order and hospitalization for schizophrenia.

Among female schizophrenics admitted to Spring Grove State Hospital, Catonsville, Maryland, between 1942 and 1949 there were significantly more last-born than 1st-born individuals. Compared to 1st-born, last-born females also showed a lower degree of social competence and a higher incidence of bizarre and self-destructive behavior, raising the question of whether the differences found between the birth ranks are the result of differences in incidence of the disease process or in the prevalence of forms of symptomatology likely to lead to hospitalization. Male patients showed no overall differences in birth rank. However, when the effects of social class of origin were examined, significantly more of the 1st-born and 1st-half male patients came from working-class and last-born and last-half patients from middle-class families. The study was seen as providing firm support for the previously reported relationship between birth order and schizophrenia, especially among women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order in cross-cultural perspective.

In a worldwide sample of 39 societies, the birth of a 1st child of either sex was more likely than the birth of other children to increase parent status, stabilize parent marriage, and provide a parental teknonym. Firstborns were likely to receive more elaborate birth ceremonies and, in childhood, to have more authority over siblings and to receive more respect from them. In adulthood, firstborn daughters were likely to receive more respect from siblings than other daughters, and firstborn sons, in comparison to other sons, were more likely to head a kin group and to have more authority over siblings, more control of property, more power or influence over others, and more respect from siblings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order effects: A reply to Breland.

Answers H. M. Breland's assertions concerning birth order effects in verbal achievement. It is argued that if birth order differences in intellectual functioning exist in childhood, they are very slight and exert at most minimal effects on adult functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order effects: A reply to Schooler.

Replies to C. Schooler's (see record 1973-00727-001) criticisms regarding birth order studies by presenting evidence to support Breland's contention that birth order effects on verbal achievement do exist, and that these are not caused by either population biases or socioeconomic status differences. (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order and scholastic aptitude and achievement.

Tested the stability of findings by W. D. Altus (see 39:5) in a less selective population, and studied the relationship between birth order and academic success as measured by high school GPA and graduation from college. Results from 1st-born female freshmen at a state university failed to support the hypothesis that 1st-born females would have higher Scholastic Aptitude Test verbal and math test means, and higher high school GPAs. The hypothesis that 1st-born females would graduate more frequently than later borns was not clearly supported, but results were in the predicted direction. Findings supported those of Altus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order and sexual orientation in women.

One of the world's largest databases on human sexuality was used to investigate whether lesbians, like homosexual men, have a later birth order relative to heterosexual comparisons. The women (N?>?5,000) were interviewed by investigators at the Kinsey Institute for Sex and Reproduction from 1938 to 1963. The women were dichotomously classified as lesbian (n?=?257) or heterosexual (n?=?5,008). No significant birth order effect was observed. Results support theories of gender-specific mechanisms in the development of sexual orientation in women and men. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order and activity level in children.

We tested the hypothesis that birth order is negatively related to motor activity level (AL) in a longitudinal sample drawn from the archives of the National Collaborative Perinatal Project. As part of that study, 7,018 children were rated on AL 5 times between birth and age 7. At 8 months, 3 years, and 4 years, AL declined linearly across birth position, so that early borns were rated as more active than later borns. Concerns about measurement reliability and effect size magnitude prompted a second study in which caregivers rated the activity of 81 children 5 to 8 years of age attending child care programs. The resulting replication of the negative relationship between birth order and AL with the smaller sample and more reliable measurement suggests that the effect is generalizable across settings. We discuss possible explanatory mechanisms, including within-family social processes and parity-related perinatal factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order effects: Not here, not now].

A review of birth order effects, which considers previously reported and unreported data and recently hypothesized biases arising from long-term population trends, reveals (a) almost no reliable evidence for birth order effects among males living in the United States in the middle 1960s, and (b) only a marginal increase in such evidence when restrictions on time, place, and sex are removed. This conclusion is based on data from both psychiatric and normal populations examined by comparing (a) the prevalence of particular birth ranks in relevant populations, (b) characteristics of individuals of different birth ranks, and (c) parents' reports of their treatment of children of different birth ranks. (66 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order, sibship size, and risk of epilepsy

We examined the relation between epilepsy and birth order, using data on 1,950 probands with epilepsy and 4,636 of their full siblings without epilepsy from the Epilepsy Family Study of Columbia University. The proportion of first-born individuals appeared to be higher among probands with epilepsy than among their unaffected siblings, but this relation disappeared after we controlled for the confounding effect of sibship size. With sibship size controlled, the proportion of first-born individuals was similar to that in unaffected siblings for probands with idiopathic/cryptogenic epilepsy, generalized and partial onset seizures, and all ages at onset of epilepsy. Probands with remote symptomatic epilepsy had higher birth orders than their unaffected siblings, even after we controlled for sibship size.