Article,
Social class differences in the relationship between birth order and personality development
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 6 (4): 172--178 (Dec 1, 1971)
DOI: 10.1007/BF00578365
Abstract
While most writers on the subject are probably aware of the need to study interactions between birth order and other factors in the environment of the individual, research on the relationship between birth order and personality development or psychopathology has tended to ignore the possibility that the experience of individuals in particular birth positions may vary in groups with different life-styles. A survey was undertaken among boys aged 14–15, and coming from different social class backgrounds, to test the hypothesis that the relationship between birth order and personality development varies by social class. The results lend support to this hypothesis, with differences emerging particularly between middle-class and lower working-class boys. Thus, only sons from lower working-class homes are more anxious and more introverted than their late-born counterparts, whereas in middle-class boys this pattern is reversed, with only and first-born boys being less anxious and somewhat more extraverted than late-borns. Moreover, only sons of middle-class families are significantly less anxious than only lower working-class boys, while lower working-class late-borns are significantly more extraverted and less neurotic than middle-class late-borns. Possible interpretations of these results are examined and a tentative explanation presented, centering on the possibilities for interaction between parents and children in various birth-order groups, and the kinds of career for which such experiences may fit the individual.
