Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Cook, P.W
Cook, P.W
AN EMPIRICAL STUDY
Patricia W. Cook
possible.
to and involvement with all family members. The mother's interview data
indicate the extent to which the mother differentiates between her children,
The first part of the thesis, sets out the 'demographic' data on
sibling status.
reported jealousy are found, but the direction of the influence varies
in the family.
CONTENTS
page
1 Introduction 5-
8 Conclusions 016-7
Appendices
A The mother's interview schedule As
B The original Personal-Positional scale 30&
Bibliography
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
the effect of father absence on the male child differs according to the
and wife.
vertical emphasis in family research assumes that the parents are the
sole possessors of power and influence within the family and the child
tabula rasa image of the child has come under increasing attack. Recent
the mother and the child mesh; their reciprocal interactions are in
mother and child engage in, e.g. husband-wife relationship, or the relation-
behaviour over time, and also the different response that the mother may
have to different children. The family situation has its own inner
each child to his sibling. Only a few studies have considered the role
of siblings in the social development of the child and those that have,
The relationship between siblings has none the less remained a largely
on sibling relations."
The situation has changed little since 1964, and in 1974, Hope Leichter
than one child. Yet much of the research on child rearing and
(p.192)
In view of the fact that most children are reared with brothers and/or
sisters; that a large part of the child's life at home is spent in the
(Becker and Carroll, 1962; Schmuck, 1963); and sex role preference
Bank and Kahn (1975) note that there is a cultural bias in the
relationship between the marital pair, and its tangible outcome - the
the control of sibling rivalry are important themes of social and cultural
the sibling relationship assumes more significance than that with the
to the social and emotional development of the child, since parent and
child are in close, intense and intensive interaction for almost two
siblings - are important for several reasons; the typical family consists
are operant in different family types and with what effects is of more
Sibling Interactions
types of relationship: with his parents, his siblings and, for all but
the very youngest of children, with his peers. Each of these relation-
ship is also high in affect (both achieved and ascribed) but more equal
its affect with friendship being equal in power and high in affect.
Not only does the sibling experience in itself provide a forum for learning
but since children are privy to the world of childhood, that parents
see only from the other side of 'the generation gap', they possess know-
ledge to which parents do not have access. That knowledge can be trans-
mitted directly between siblings, as, for example, an elder child schooling
his younger sibling in the correct dress, mode of speech, attitude, etc.,
these groups. That such learning takes place and is utilized is evidenced
suggests that marital relationships and their success are also influenced
Older children may also act as educators (in the formal sense of
the word) to their younger siblings. Dunkin (1966) found that a large
number of children who entered school already able to read had been taught
they took the role of the pupil and their siblings that of teacher.
his biography how his elder brother undertook to teach him Euclidean
Older siblings especially may also mediate peer group attitudes and values
to the child, that may conflict with or further endorse those transmitted
challenge and stimulate each other directly and utilize one another in
The sibling group offers to the child the opportunity for participating
in which the child has only a little direct power and influence. Although
visa vis the parent each child individually may have low power, by acting
to that of the parents. Bossard and Boll (1956) reported that siblings
were often seen as being fairer than the parents; and that sharing the
world of childhood they often have a more accurate perception of the rights
and justice. Although within the family the relationship between siblings
may be monitored by the parents, since much of the contact between siblings
of checks and balances. Older children learn that the power they exert
a responsibility to care for and protect the younger child. The younger
ends (Sutton-Smith and losenberg, 1968). Boys with sisters and girls
with brothers have the opportunity to learn something about the opposite
and will therefore tinge all future relationships with authority (with
the opposite sex and of the same sex; we learn how to handle emotions
With his siblings, the child competes for parental attention or love;
force against the greater power of adults. Siblings may act co-operatively
first elaborated.
between siblings may colour the child's attitude not only to his siblings
and have to take action. Exactly what kind of attitude and action to
take may spawn further argument, this time between the parents. Parents
may side with different children in the conflict and in this way the
Sibling Research
than empirically researched. Alfred Adler was one of the first psychologists
in which jealousy has become a problem, not with the successful manage-
a very important concept, only slightly less significant than the 'Oedipus
tangential areas; for example, the studies that relate ordinal position,
sex of the child and sex of the sibling, to such factors as anxiety,
indicate the 'what' of family and sibling structure rather than the
ships that siblings have with each other and the ways it is influenced
by the relationships that siblings have with their parents. The number
and the type of sibling that a child has directly influences his access
to parental affection and attention. Sibling status - a child's position
position, sex, and sex of siblings. The issue of sibling rivalry and
conflict may be a major source of disruptioh within the family and require
a great deal of socialization effort by the parents. How and with what
effects this takes place is the subject matter of the latter part of
the research.
Is-
The initial and most basic model for the research is an exchange
model of family behaviour. This model was selected for its usefulness
(1964), Romans (1966) and Thibaut and Kelley (1959). Briefly, all these
For the child - especially the young child for whom peer group
within the home, for example, a grandparent, but for most families this
are the parents; the child is forced to interact within the family if he
1 The Newsons (1970) report that 10% of their sample of 700 families
had an additional adult in the home.
when the general assumptions of exchange theory are translated into
are scarce. These resources are used as rewards for others. The reward
are limited. The resources of both parents and children are primarily
who feels that he is less well regarded than his sibling may express
families we are concerned not with outright rejection of any one child,
not with the presence or absence of love, but with degrees of feelings.
Thus, although it may be true that love cannot be counted, the routine,
complains that another child gets more attention, more affection, more
"With the triad and larger groups, status comparisons may be quite
the greater power of reward since they are rewarding in themselves and
can mediate other rewards to the child. Even if the resources are not
between parents and their children. Most studies have tended to minimize
the countervailing power of the child, but whilst admitting this power,
children. This is because parents can separate emotion and action far
more easily than the child can. The effectiveness of love withdrawal
drawn from the child: because of the inability to separate his own feelings
and actions the child experiences the appearance of love withdrawal not
own emotional control he is more able to utilize his own affective power,
on the total relationship in which they are both involved, and it high-
1959, p.227)
their siblings. The system of rules the parents work with may or may
not acceptable, this gives rise to tensions between parent and child(ren)
and between siblings. The conflict within the family between the siblings
rewards elsewhere.
system. If the child accepts the basis of the distribution and the
calm may prevail. Difficulties arise when the system of the mother is
either not adhered to by the mother, i.e. she breaks her own rules, or
justice (i.e. his notion of what he ought to receive) and his actual
the fact that the parents are not practising what they are preaching.
It may also stem from outside the family from the wider culture (for
example, the child may learn from his peers at school that others are
into sibling rivalry by invidious comparison with his siblings (his com-
parison level).
arises because of the clash between two strongly held norms that govern
family is the same, although the liking and preference of the mother
and personality elicit different responses that may vary with the child's
ale children are preferred to female children; the first born to sub-
sequent children - the first born male, that is. In our culture, too,
there is a weak preference for male children, and a feeling that the
Coexistent with the Complete Equality Norm are a whole set of values
and beliefs that take the individual as the main focus for concern.
The personal characteristics and state of the child are very important
to the mother when dealing with her child. Current child-rearing and
individuality of the child - 'to let him become himself'. Thus the
Complete Equality Norm says they are the same and the Individualistic
These qualities elicit a response from the mother and some are preferred
when one child is more difficult, another more sympathetic and more attractive,
from the point of view of the mother. (The child may not seem so to
the children and strike some kind of a balance. How does this affect
the child? The child's notions of fairness, equality and similar concepts
are derived from the mother. The ambivalences that the mother experiences
and involvement. Problems arise from three sources; (i) where the
The mother then has to establish that the treatment, though different
has to be justified and the legitimation may not be acceptable to the child.
(ii)the legitimation may be acceptable, but the mother may fail to put
her theory into practice. Her behaviour may be inconsistent and erratic.
i.e. what a child does receive, is a function of the child's own attributes,
or greater ease with one child than with others. What this highlights
that the mother's concern is equally for all children, this is not necessarily
put into practice with such meticulousness that the "it's not fair" is
children differ in sex and age, they also differ in their personal charac-
parent and child. These personal differences may also call forth differential
treatment, differences which are more difficult to justify for they also
have implications about personal worth. A child who feels that his
Personal qualities are judged deficient in some way, feels greater loss
may lead the mother to preferential treatment of one. Here her own
fact that one child is easier to get along with, temperamentally more
then becomes a key issue. If the sibling feels that the mother is
terms firstly of equal love and affection for their off-spring. Beyond
that the mother, faced with children of different ages, sex, ordinal
of rivalry in the family. The next section outlines two models of family
Socialization Style
which we shall call the personal and the positional, and it seems likely
"The boundaries between statuses are strong and the social identities
the socialization of the child. All families take into account both
positional and personal attributes of members, but the two families differ
are taken from the pilot surveys: the former in each set is positional,
(ii) 'I think that all little girls like to teach their brothers'
have an equally strong ideology but it is less clear-cut and more in-
Chapter E).
and reinforcing clearly defined roles, the parents are limiting the tendency
the child will be able to recognize a privilege system and the rules
that govern its working (for example, the seven-year-old will know that
when he is nine he will get the same amount of pocket money his nine-
year-old brother is getting now). Stronger boundaries will produce a
stronger sense of property and territory, and these factors will be very
On the other hand, it seems likely that the personal family will
process (for example, in the instances quoted above, how is the child's
may appear more arbitrary and produce more contention than in positional
families. The fact that boundaries are weakly defined suggests that
we can expect poorly defined property and territory notions and property
and range of rivalry vary between these two family types? and, what
effects of rivalry?
the coding frame that is used to interpret the mothers' open-ended inter-
view data. In the final chapter the usefulness of the exchange model
There are three very closely related concepts, all of which have
relevance to this study. They are jealousy, envy and rivalry. All
three have different meanings and significance, but they are occasionally
"troubled by the belief, suspicion or fear that the good that one desires
Thus the state of jealousy requires that at least three people be involved:
superior advantage".
of the same object as another; one who strives to equal or outdo another
in any respect".
SUMMARY
that have guided the project, and we have attempted to translate these
within the family. Two models of family ideology and practice were
suggested - the personal and positional family. The second aim of the
this field, we are also concerned to create and test methods by which
family interactions can be adequately and validly assessed. Final assess-
findings and also the usefulness and validity of the methods used to
Chapter 2
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
the main intention is to provide a 'general map of the area, rather than
to family behaviour has been chosen rather than test a few neatly operationalized
very specific hypotheses. The aim of the research is insight and illumination
has not been chosen does not mean that the research is of a purely speculative
nature. '4here statistical tests can be applied they have been, and
where the data may weakly indicate a relationship, this finding has been
viz. the mother, the father, and the children. Each method of data
i.e. a desire to keep where possible the spontaneous responses and reactions
of family members and, at the same time, to have responses that are
Chapter 3), the child constructs his own family, allocates feelings freely
in the area of family life research. But despite the fact that data
was collected from both parents, due to the pressures of time only the
mother's data has been analysed. The role of the father in the family
and children. many of these tendencies are assumed, they have not been
empirically documented.
The very tentative indications from this research suggest that the
role of the father within the family is rather complex and not at all
is fairly constant across the whole range of the sample families. There
understood role prescriptions for the mother within the family, and the
already made about the importance of taking the whole family network
and the dearth of material in this area, future research in this area
same time structure the data in such a way that legitimate comparisons
can be made.
1 The data from the personal-positional scale indicates that each parent
may have quite different perspectives on some aspects of child-rearing
(see Chapter 6).
THE SAMPLE
mothers had been interviewed and Professor Bernstein agreed to make available
There were 116 families in total, all of whom had at least one child of
The mothers were contacted by letter and asked if they would agree
within the family. The letter was kept deliberately vague, so as not to
bias in any way the subsequent interview responses. The sample was
During the interview period nine other families were lost for a
was considered rather small in view of the large number of relevant variables.
two and four children, one of whom was about eleven years old. In this
The families selected were all from the middle-class. This was
1
One tape was found to be inaudible and the final sample size is therefore
seventy-nine mothers.
and (b) in line with the original aim of interviewing all family members,
it was felt that it was unlikely that many working-class fathers would
educational and occupational factors of both the mother and the father,
1951). The index has three components: (i) the rating of the father's
present occupation; (ii) the rating of the mother's highest ever occupation
(the mother's occupation at the time of the interview may have been deter-
an index of social class more subtle than the usual measures of occupational
prestige. Thus, although not all the members of the present sample
father, when other considerations are taken into account, the sample
can be considered as homogenous. Table 2.1 sets out the social class
Table 2.1
Frequency 20 23 18 9 6 0 0 3
*The classes are grouped according to the Hall-Jones
Scale of Occupational Prestige for Males
and 5(b). 5(a) refers to routine grades of non-manual work and 5(b)
to skilled manual work. For the purposes of dividing the sample according
Table 2.2
70 6 3 79
areas. The sample for this research are residents of a South London
1945.
The eighty families had two hundred and twenty-three children between
them of whom 189 completed test profiles. The ages of the children
who were tested ranged from seven to sixteen years old. When the sample
These are small samples and, when further subdivided, are even smaller,
and the findings from these samples must therefore be accepted with some
such small samples, the differences between two sample means must be
for adequate and valid comparisons between the sexes and ordinal positions.
sizes become very small and therefore the general applicability of the
The need for breaking down the sample into more and more controlled
theory from which specific hypotheses can be derived and specific findings
Table 2.3
Sample Characteristics
Table 2.4
Sex
2-child 34 32 35 67
3-child 29 40 32 72
4-child 17 21 29 50
Total 80 93 96 189
Table 2.5
Ordinal Position
I II III IV Total
2-child 34 33 - - 67
3-child 25 27 18 - 70*
4-child 15 14 14 7 50
*excluding twins
Table 2.6
Age Distribution
5-7 (60-83) 2 2 4
7-9 (84-107) 14 16 30
9-11 (108-131) 15 16 31
11-13 (132-155) 46 40 86
13-15 (156-179) 10 15 25
15+ (180 - ) 6 7 13
Total 93 96 189
THE INTERVIEW
of the most fraught from the methodological point of view. Many studies
is one of the most potent in modern society and any failure to live up
Ever since Freud the sins of the children have been visited on the parents,
1963, p.217)
current beliefs and practices are more accurate and reliable. Reliability
studies have shown that there are wide discrepancies between the report
(Haggard, Brekstad and Skard, 1960). When data is obtained from more
than one source, there is again a lack of consonance (Eron, Banta, Waldter
is asked for a statement on current beliefs and practices, then the reports
its Gestalt properties. This can divest the event of much of its emotional
tone, producing more revealing, less defensive and, therefore, more accurate,
the maternal report, the researchers should systematically seek out in—
even within the test depending on the sensitivity of the area probed,
tried, where possible, to take at least one other check on the mother's
far as possible and, where probing was allowed, they were instructed
lead the mother in and out of certain areas, the interviewers were given
more leeway and told to rephrase the questions in whatever way they felt
was suitable. The mothers' responses were in most cases not coded at
not the mother worked, were coded at the time on the interview schedule.
The whole interview, which took approximately one hour, was taped, and
subsequent coding was done from the tape. In this way we were able
to work out a coding system based upon the mother's own response, rather
The Interviewers
The interviewers were both female, both without children, and both
take up a knowledgeable role and to expand on her own theories and practices.
In line with the original theoretical outline, data was collected
family; information such as sex and age of the children; then home
and school activities; the family's social class and its social mobility;
dividual children within the family and her perception of those children.
The reaction of the mother to the individual qualities and personal traits
of her children is clearly one of the most important factors in the child's
dicate a preference for one child? And can it be linked with rivalrous
positive and negative affects but primarily the latter. The attitude
of the mother to such questions may influence the mother's own report
of rivalry and may also be reflected in the emotional style of the children,
and persons are strong, the boundaries between space, time and property
ment within the home and the expectations of rules governing that environ-
attributes are those of sex, ordinal position, age, and sex and age relations.
on how these factors are made relevant in the resolution of family problems,
and asked what she would do, if she were confronted with such a situation.
In this way we can identify the communication and control system within
the family.
The final brief section is concerned with the mother's own back-
ground, both social and personal. An item of interest here is the fact
that there appear to be rather more first-born among the sample of mothers
Varela, 1964).
fixed choice situation. The mother is given a card with two statements
one with which she most agrees. There are thirty-one statements in
characteristics such as sex, age and position. These are given at the
end of the thesis in Appendix B, which sets out the list of items given
the sample.
NOTATION
the sex, ordinal position and sibling status of any child in the study.
Family type is related as per birth order. Thus there are three
family types in which there are two boys and one girl (MMF, MFM and FMM);
or there are two types of opposite sex two-child families (MF and FM),
depending on whether or not the first born child is male (MF) or female (FM).
denoted by having his ordinal position indicated: the elder of two boys
is denoted M1H; any reference to the younger brother of this dyad is MM2.
In the four-child family, FJM3iI refers to the third-born boy who has two
Within the two-child families in the sample there are eight possible
sibling positions:
Table 2.7
M I M M M 6
1
M I F M F 10
1
M II II MM 6
2
M II F FM 10
2
F I M F M 10
1
F I F FF 8
1
F II M MF 10
2
FF 7
2
There are enough children in each category to make sibling status com-
there are eight possible family types and twenty-four sibling positions.
The frequency with which each family type occurs is set out below:
MHM 5
k.k.b 2
MFM 6
FMF 3
MMF 6
PPM 3
FMM 3
Not all of the children within each three-child family have been tested:
in thirteen families only two of the three children have been tested
and in one family only one child has been tested. The reasons are that
the children are either too young to understand and complete the test,
or, less commonly, they are older and no longer living at home. The
applies even more strongly to the four-child family where data on sibling
SUMMARY
the attribution of power only to the parent is mistaken; like any other
The direction of effects is not always downward, from the powerful parent
resolved by negotiations.
from the mother and her interpretations of the child's behaviour and
its significance form the basic data from which conclusions about the
child and the mother-child relationship are drawn. The 'child's eye
view' of the matter which may differ significantly from that of the mother
is seldom Eolicited. Apart from the fact that the mother may misinterpret
the effects of her behaviour upon the child (Loevinger, 1959), various
own behaviour and its presumed influence on the child, is likely to play
version of her own behaviour. This is not to suggest that the mother
deliberately lies (she may do so), but simply that by exaggerating certain
far as the behaviour of the child also reflects upon herself, she may
also conceal certain facts about the child's behaviour and feelings.
This points up the need for information from other sources to act
as a reliability check on the mother's report and the need for a first-
i.e. a report from the child. In reporting his feelings the child may
be a 'good child' are equally operative, but the feelings (of denial)
are the child's own and, as such, have value. Very few studies have
states; some feelings may be too difficult to voice, for others they
may simply lack the means of expressing themselves. For these reasons
be difficult to sustain the child's interest for the amount of time needed
is needed.
ment of the child with his family. Such a test also acts as a reliability
check on the mother's report of the same events. Not only do mothers
reactions of the child to hiszibling are viewed in the light of his per-
most obvious link of this kind lies in the assumed link between the mother's
preference or favouring of one child, and the jealousy that this may
the child towards his father - a classical Oedipal syndrome. The child's
from the age of six to sixteen and would maintain their interest for
forward way the feelings of the child to each family member, and his
Although the research provides us with the child's eye view of the
mother, the categories in which the information is construed are
necessarily those of the researcher.
The most suitable clinical test available was the Bene-Anthony
Family Relations Test (1957) which allows the child to construct his
own view of his family and makes the data available in a form that the
Test was devised primarily for use in the clinical situation, and was
in children".
typed to stand for members of any child's family, yet ambiguous enough
to become under suggestion any specific family. The figures range from
into the test; whereas other figures are pictured facing the subject,
this figure faces away from the test subject and stands for 'nobody'.
the top.
resent his father, mother and siblings, and anyone else living in the
statement (e.g. "This person in the family is very nice"; "I can feel
very cross with this particular person"), and the child is asked to allocate
each item card to the person in his family whom he thinks it best fits.
The allocation is made by "posting" the card into the appropriate figure/box.
6
The child has two alternatives other than to make a direct allocation:
he may either assign an item to more than one person at the same time
box), indicating that the item does not apply to anyone in his family.
both to and from the child. It consists of 100 item cards grouped into
(1) Outgoing feelings from the child to other family members. These
family members; the positive and negative feelings are sub-grouped according
to the intensity of the feeling into mild and strong emotions. Examples
to play with'.
quick-tempered'.
the way others in the family relate to him/her. They are also sub-grouped
tells me off'.
Example: 'This is the person in the family mother pays too much attention
to'.
When the child has constructed his family, the interviewer reads
to him the statement on the card and asks the child to post the item
are presented in random order, except that the interviewer always starts
and completes the test with two non-threatening positive items. The
child allocates all test items and the distribution of these items is
then plotted on a test sheet by the tester; this profile gives a picture
approximately between eight and twelve. All came from families of four
or less and in most cases at least one of their siblings was also tested.
The results of the pilot indicated that although the format was suitable,
there were several aspects of the test that made it unsuitable for the
in the children and proved too difficult to cope with. This is particularly
true of the sexualized and hostile items, a very high proportion of which
which the child is familiar with the interviewer and in which inhibitions
have been broken down, the test can be successfully applied. However,
in psychoanalytic theory and the test is intended for use in the clinical
The items are not specifically directed at 'tapping' any particular area
of sibling relationships, there was a need for test items that were more
focussed in their application, and which would give more detailed information
it was decided to retain the general format and to create a set of new
item cards which were more suitable to the sample and more focussed on
the issues of the research. Items were selected that had relevance
to a wider age range and the language was brought into line with that of
the sample group; where some of the Bene-Anthony items had a stiff,
formal and slightly repetitive sound, the new items had a more idiomatic
and spontaneous wording. It was hoped that in this way the test appeared
less as a test and more as a game. Items that included value terms,
such as 'This is the person in the family father pays too much attention
to' and '...mother makes too big a fuss about' were seen as requiring
complex value judgements on the part of the child and therefore were
children hesitated over items with value terms in them, saying, for example,
"Well, my mother makes a fuss of so-and-so, but not too big, a fuss".
Such items were therefore excluded and, as far as possible, all statements
easily allocated. All the revisions were designed to make the test
interesting, easy to handle and to allow a spontaneous and, it is hoped,
unguarded response.
A major factor in the decision not to use the original Family Relations
Test was the need to have data on areas of family interaction of particular
within the family. These areas of particular interest are the child's
element seven items were composed and incorporated into the test. Other
aspects of sibling tensions are also important but are not necessarily
may exhibit negative attitudes to each other that are the outcome of
more positive items were included. These split into three sections,
taking the form of dependability, e.g. "This person in the family never
lets you down"; and sharing, e.g. "This person in the family doesn't
try to get more than anyone else'; and,finally, general positive items,
e.g. "I really enjoy talking to this person". These latter items were
lead the child in and out of the test without arousing anxieties.
The new test items were then piloted with a small group of middle-
class children and those that elicited a high 'nobody' response were
general format as the Family Relations Test; the child constructs his
family and allocates item cards to them. The item cards, however, are
sample and the research aims. The total number of new items is 59 and
the interviewer stated that they were writing a book about how children
When the test has been completed, the interviewer makes a record
ment with each of his family members (a quantitative measure) and of the
measure). The extent to which the child has used the 'nobody' category
advantages of the test lie in the fact that the child is not asked to
for his family 'on the spot'. This is likely to be outside the inclinations
item is fixed but the placement is free. Thus the profiles of different
children are directly comparable. The 'feeling' thrust into the figures
and consequently there may be less guilt to interfere with the freedom
Children's Test
Maternal Preference
Paternal Preference
Friction Items
Comparative Items
Dependability
Sharing
Additional Positives
The test was given individually to each child within the sample
families (N = 189); the profiles could then be compared within the families
Reliability
for if the test is administered after a short time the memory of the original
transformations and comparisons of first and second test scores are there-
fore invalid.
The split-half method is not suitable either, since the test items
are not homogeneous and the number of choices a child can make for each
item varies from case to case. Following the procedure adopted by Bene-
Anthony for assessing the reliability of the Family Relations Test, the
Apart from the sections dealing with maternal and paternal preference,
the test basically divides intotwo sections: one dealing with positive
items (N = 26) and the other with negative affects (N = 22). Each of
the scores by odd and even, regarding each score as if it were the result
where the score to that person reached or exceeded six. Thus for each
subject with more than six allocations in the positive section of the
test, we have two separate scores for positive to mother, to father and
the family were too low to warrant computation. Within the negative
section, since very few negative items are allocated to the parents,
only the scores to the highest and second highest scoring sibling have
been computed. The results are set out in Table 3.2. To correct for
halving the length of the test, the Spearman Brown prophesy formula was
Table 3.2
POSITIVE N r. Corrected r.
ilEGATIVE N r. Corrected r.
Validity
that measures not only conscious feelings but also unconscious sentiments;
not only fact but also fantasy, and not only direct expression but also
Cronbach and Meehl (1955) point out that in the case of tests whose
in which they occur and evidence for their validity collects as the research
proceeds and the construct becomes more securely tied to more and more
from a variety of angles. The methods and the results of the investigations
Both the Children's Test and the mother's interview make a direct
there is agreement between mother and the children in the family on these
Two-Child Families
with a strong statement from the mother in favour of the second child,
and a weaker statement from the children (see Chapter 4). Is there also
a "soft spot" (Question 39), and the self choices of their children.
There are nine such families and the scores of both children in these
families are presented in Table 3.3. The children's scores are derived
Table 3.3
II 4 5
of their mother, i.e. the eight who are not favoured give themselves
low scores and the one for whom the mother does have a "soft spot" reflects
favours, all but three indicate this in their score. Bearing in mind
that the self category is very seldom used, then this result is very
test, and that the maternal interview data is substantiated from another
Similarly, if the mother reports that she has no special preference (no
"soft spot"), or that she has a soft spot for both, is there also agree-
1. If the mother reports a soft spot for one child, and that child
gets two or more preference items, than his or her siblings, the reports
their own preference score and that of their sibling, should be within
3. If the mother reports 'both', each child allocates the same number
The criteria for 'none' and 'both' are therefore the same.
Example:
Self Sib.
13 Ml 1 1 1
F2 0 0 1
19 l 4 3 5
F2 0 1 3
210 M1 1 5 1
M2 0 0 5
In these cases, if the mother had stated none, then five of the six children
would agree with their mothers. The exception is 210.M1. All others
give scores that are the same or within one point of their sibling.
M1 gives five items to his sister and one only to himself. He therefore
Results
Where the mother specifies "soft spot" for one child (N = 9 families),
in two cases both children agreed with her. In five cases only one child
agreed with Mother, and in two cases both disagreed. That is, nine
children agreed and nine disagreed. Out of eleven families where Mother
reports no "soft spot", in nine cases both children agreed with her, and
in two cases one child disagreed. That is, out of twenty-two children,
twenty were in agreement with their mother. There were thirteen families
in which the mother stated that she had a soft spot for both. In four
families both children agreed; in eight families one child agreed and the
measure, fifteen children were in agreement with their mothers and ten
1
disagreed.
Table 3.4
Summary of Mother-Child Agreement on Favouritism:
Two-Child Families
One 9 9
Both 15 10
None 20 2
Total 44 21
1
The number of children in the thirteen families is 25, not 26, because
one child has no test profile.
Thus, the overall degree of agreement between mothers and their
children is 67%. This high degree of consonance between the two sources
results are very encouraging in that they validate the children's test
a test of this nature, the degree and accuracy of the reporting is very
high indeed.
her own experience and the children are reporting their perception of
the children are reporting the first-hand experience and the mother is
What is the extent of agreement between mothers and children on the question
of jealousy?
on item 41 on the Children's Test, viz. 'I sometimes feel jealous of this
person'. Ten first-born children were cited and only one gives this
allocate this item to their sibling (the jealous child) more often!
Of the four second-born, who are named as jealous by their mother, only
one gives this item to his sibling. This means that of the fourteen
children, only two are in agreement with their mother; by far the majority
the feeling exists but that the children are too inhibited to admit it
and therefore allocate such items into the 'nobody' category. In view
of the fact that most of the children cited as jealous are first-born,
and in view of the evidence presented later in this chapter that the
first-born are more likely than other children to make defensive allocations,
In eight families the mother claims that both of the children are
the card to their siblings (all second-born); the remaining twelve all
made a 'nobody' choice. There are eleven mothers who state that there
with their mother and make a 'nobody' allocation of item 41 on the Children6
Test, three children make an allocation to their sibling, and one to the
mother herself. Table 3.5 sets out the total degree of agreement between
Table 3.5
Two-Child Families
N agreeing disagreeing
One 14 2 12
Both 8 4 12
None 11 18 3
Total 33 24 27
- CI-
Thus the total extent of agreement is 47% between mother and children
and children stems from the situation in which the mother makes a state-
ment that one or both of her children are jealous; in this case the
children claim that they do not experience jealousy, and their report
no jealousy when their mother thinks them jealous are first-born, and
born are more inhibited and defensive than later born (see page ).
Three-Child Families
was the mother's favourite (Chapter 4) and the middle child was the most
jealous, especially the middle girl (Chapter 5). In general, for the
three-child family these results are confirmed from the mother's interview
data. Are they also confirmed from the individual data? That is,
if a mother states that the third child is her favourite, do the children
in that family concur? The table below sets out the results for all
three-child families.
Table 3.6
Three-Child Families
One 15 25 10 35
All 9 18 4 22
None 5 10 4 14
Total 29 53 18 71
*The totals do not add up to three times the number of families because
some of the children in the families did not complete the test.
--6
when there is reporting of jealousy? When the mother names the child
as jealous, does that child make a statement to the same effect when
allocating item 41 of the Children's Test? Table 3.7 sets out the extent
Table 3.7
Three-Child Families
Two or more 7 6 8 7
None 7 14 5 2
Total 29 24 24 9
is lowest when one child is specified and highest when there is said to
be no jealousy.
- 63 -
Four-Child Families
ment that the mother favours the youngest child. Examination of the
due to any bias in the favouritism items, which, stressing the nurturant
throughout the whole family. When mother and children reports are compared
to check the degree of concordance, the results are as set out in Table 3.8.
Table 3.8
Four-Child Families
One child 7 3 17 7
Two or more 3 5 5 2
None 5 16 0 4
Total 15 24 22 13
and unconscious that may operate on the child's part to distort the results.
This result is lower than that in two and three-child families, because,
that distortion and error may creep into the report of any one child also
increases.
-6 44 -
The comparison for the report of jealousy is set out in Table 3.9.
Table 3.9
Four-Child Families
One child 4 1 3
Two or more 5 6 5
None 6 16 4 2
Total 15 23 12 10
in the two areas of favouritism and jealousy'? Table 3.10 sets out the
Table 3.10
All FRmilies
One child 31 37 36 7
More than one 25 38 19 3
None 21 46 6 4
Total 77 121 61 14
This represents an overall agreement of 66.5%. The extent of the agree-
ment varies according to the report of the mother, being lowest for the
case in which she names one child (50.6%), intermediate in the case of
more than one child being cited (66.6%), and highest in the case of no
'soft spot' (88.4%). These results indicete that where the mother makes
It is likely that the suspicion that the mother has a favourite provokes
in the parent-oriented first-born. 4hen the mother states that she has
a 'soft spot' for one of her children, in many cases the other children
that is, the mother may admit having a 'soft spot', but as a general
practice she transmits to the children the belief that they are all equally
valued. Her 'soft spot', therefore, may be concealed and not apparent
to the other children in the family. The hypothesis that certain items
part of the children, does the more sensitive issue of jealousy also
reflect the same patterns? The overall picture for the question of
All Families
One child 33 7 26 0
None 24 48 12 5
Total 77 71 63 18
the nature of the mother's statement. When the mother alleges that
if the mother claims that more than one child is jealous, then there
states that none of her children are jealous, there is an overall degree
the results of the test, the question of whose report to accept when
for the low degree of agreement where the mother names one child as jealous,
we have suggested that the failure of the child to agree is due to inhibition
those items that do not apply to any family member, or items that do
apply to a family member but which the child is too inhibited to allocate.
utilize this category, since there is evidence that some kinds of children
we would expect that girls, being more inhibited, would have a higher
These hypotheses are in line with the work of Sears, Maccoby and
Levin (1957), MacFarlane, Allen and Honzik (1954), Rosenberg and Sutton-
Smith (1964), suggesting that the first-born are more prone to be anxious,
first-born are therefore more likely to allocate the sensitive and dis-
theme, conformity studies also indicate that first-borns and girls are
-6e •
born and girls (we hypothesize) are more likely to present to the inter-
cultural ideal. Tables 3.12 and 3.13 set out the results for the total
use of the Nobody category, comparing boys and girls and first-born and
later-born children. The data is grouped into high and low categories,
depending on the extent to which the Nobody category is used. The dividing
test with Yates correction for low expected frequencies where necessary.
Table 3.12
Use of Nobody:
Nos. of subjects
All Families
First born 3 33 28 9 73
Total 32 73 65 17 187
The findings indicate that the use of the Nobody category can be
line with existing research into sex and ordinal position effects.
The breakdown by family size introduces the proviso that the results
are modified by family size; thus sex differences do not apply in four-
the four-child families. These differences are held in mind when inter-
preting the test results, and data relative to the use of Nobody on different
from two-child families aged from five to eleven years with a modified
version of the Bene-Anthony Family Relations Test, found that the first-
born placed more items in parent boxes than their later-born siblings.
that the first-born would show more parent involvement was tested.
Analysis was by t-test for independent samples (Blalock, 1960). Table 3.14
reveals that the first-born have higher involvement with their parents
Table 3.14
* direction predicted
will further consolidate the test (see data on sibling status effects,
when the reports of the mother and the children are at odds. In some
of the mother rather than the children; for example, in the case of the
of the children in the sample. When combined with reports on the same
issues from other sources - the mother and the other children in the
CHILDREN'S TEST
** ( 20.4.04 )
SCORING SHEET
JOHN 7:10 2,1
2.me•
, Age: Sex:
thers in Famil;i: .. 2 3
SIBLINGS OTHERS
N F N S
1 2 3 1 2 3
00 00
ernal 01 1 01
ference 02 tr 02
03 - V 03
04 V 04
05 V 05
1 5
06 J 06
07 07
arnal 08 08
Terence 09 vi 09
10 1 1 10
11 11
____—_17
12 12
13
_wing
14 A . ,
le,
15 15
_five 16 10
.ings 17 17
18 18
19 lq
1
20 i 20
21 V 1 21
22 V 1 22
:oing 23 23
.tive 24 .4
ings 2 25
26 26
27 ,-'7
)--"""---'
L 1 3 1 4 1
g SIBLINGS OTHERS
N F M
1 2 1 2
28 28
29 2_,4
ct: on , 30
=1
_5 L 33
'AL 1 1
;r
Tarnive :7 1/
38 ,
40 40
41 1 41
AL , 2 1 4
4,
7: V 42
43 1 np
endability 44 44
6 MI
4 1 2
4 ■ ■ 4
rine. 115111011ra nq
50 ro
51 V 51
'T, 2 1 1 1
2
53 53
54 1 54
55 yi 55
56 f 56
57 1r 57
58 ,/ 58
(-) 59
vL
Chapter 4
PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIPS
Social relationships within and without the family are often con-
the family the child is loved and rewarded for what he is rather than
"Basically, the thing that makes each child secure in the family
is the feeling that his parents love him and accept him for him-
to feel and express equal affection and regard for their children and
evaluated not only in comparison with their siblings but also vis a vis
do child is like any other child - not even within the same family -
the same, they are not necessarily to be treated the same way. They
needs. The mother and father have to recognize the different attributes
the others. What these attributes are may vary from mother to mother,
lead the parent into an apparent partiality for one of the children over
the others. This may in turn generate sibling rivalry among the other
children and become one of the main sources of contention within the family.
the two aspects by saying that 'I love them both the same but (sometimes)
dilemma can be seen in the quote that follows, from the mother of two
the trap of spending more time with him and I know she kind of
times it. I spend five minutes with him and two with her."
When the mother consistently 'falls into the trap' of spending more time
with one, or of being more indulgent or lenient to that child, then the
accusation of favouritism may arise. In charging the mother with 'favouritism',
the child is claiming that the mother has a preference for one child
over his sibling. This accusation can be very disruptive and the handling
of the discontent that results may involve a great deal of family effort
two-child family; the mother may favour one of the children and the
father the other. These links may exist across a wide number of families,
hypothesis is that fathers may take more interest in the first-born and
effects may be modified by sex, in which case the father may show favouritism
to the first-born male but not to the first-born female. These very
different again. Here the two-two balance is not feasible and some
offers differential access to parents and to the rewards they can mediate.
But position is not the only relevant ecological variable, for the effects
of birth order are also influenced by the sex of the child, family size,
the age and sex of his siblings, all of which are important environmental
influences.
The family context gives the child his/her 'filial value' (Krout, 1939).
As the only child becomes the elder child and then the eldest, at each
stage his changed position calls forth a different response from his
parents. The new response depends on the age and sex of the new addition
to the family. Sears (1959) suggested that ordinal position be treated
can be further broken down depending on the age and sex of others in the
Since on one level the treatment each child receives in the family
to parent-child relationships are set out as per family size and, where
sex role identification (Brim, 1958), and various other areas. To inter-
direct learning from, and competition with, siblings. The second has
a wider family referent and considers the different types and kinds of
chapter the latter type of relationship is under review and the issues
positions is considered.
sizes and sibling structures. This study is subject to the usual caveats
when the children were of the same age, reported differences in maternal
warmth to each ordinal position, with the mother showing more warmth and
that the mother's attitude to children subsequent to the first was a function
of the age and sex of the existing children. Mothers were most enthusiastic
about their pregnancy if they already had only daughters rather than
only sons, and least enthusiastic if they already had one child of each
sex. This attitude persisted after the birth and mothers were relatively
cold to second-born sons if they already had a son, but not so to daughters,
on the sex of the parent and of the child. Typically each parent is
reported to be more indulgent of the child of the opposite sex and more
restrictive and punitive towards the child of the same sex (Winch, 1962;
and sex. The mother was more lenient and less critical of the first-
born boy and the second-born girl. The explanation Rothbart offers
has a psychoanalytic connotation: she suggests that the mother feels
first-born girl. This leaves the second-born boy with fewer expressions
1930; Ross, 1931; Koch, 1955) may be a function both of the first-born's
report (1955), that the first-born with a younger opposite sex sibling
This chapter sets out the results of the mother's interview when questioned
directly about her attitudes both positive and negative to her children.
MATERNAL PREFERENCE
HYPOTHESES AO RESULTS
Two-Child Families
(28) Which child can twist her round his/her little finger?
named, the greater the mother's partiality for that child. The responses
of the mother to these four questions are summed. If the mother names
the same child three times in answer to these questions, then that child
gets a score of three; if one, then he gets one. The scores for each
measure since probably not all the questions are of equal value in tapping
the mother's feelings; it is, however, a better guide than using one
question only.
in mind.
of the twenty mothers with a child of each sex were considered. There
to boys (1.1) and girls (u.9) and the hypothesis was therefore rejected.
II. Following Lasko's findings (1954), that the mother is warmer to
the second-born, the hypothesis that second-born children are more positively
some weak support from the greater reported jealousy of the first-born
(Sewall, 1930; Ross, 1931; Koch, 1955), assuming that what the first-
second-born was confirmed. The data was analysed by dilcoxon Test for
at p< .005 level. (The mean score to the first-born was 0.34 and to
more positive response from the mother than a second-born in a same sex
the younger sibling was of the opposite sex. Sears, accoby and Levin
(1957) found that the mother was particularly warm to the second-born
boy if the first was a girl. Freedman, Freedman and Jhelpton (1960),
who also reported that his older sister is very concerned with parental
Table 4.1
Two-Child Families
MM 12 0.5 1.0
FF 16 0.25 1.25
MF 10 0.22 1.4
FM 10 0.4 1.8
Analysis
Although the mean allocations from the mother to each sibling are
set out in Table 4.1, the mean scores are not used in the statistical
calculations. They are presented only for information since the assumptions
many means are compared and where the direction is not predicted, two-
sign test comparing the allocations to the first and second-born in opposite
same sex dyads did not reach the necessary level of statistical significance.
Further analysis within each dyad revealed that the difference in favour
'soft spot' (Qn.39),of the nine families in which the mother admits to
a 'soft spot' for one child, seven of the nine are opposite sex dyads
(35g of such families) and two are same sex dyads (14.3%). Ave of the
seven opposite sex dyads specified are FM. This data matches with that
from the mother's report on all positive feelings and the children's
test data.
Within the Children's Test, there are six items that relate to
the direct report of the mother with complementary data from each child.
allocated the maternal preference items, the extent to which the Nobody
preference section of the test; the results are set out here for the
and the maximum is 6, indicating that all items were placed in the Nobody
Table 4.2
of Use of 'Nobody'
the sexes in their use of Nobody, and also between the first and last
Table 4.3
Use of Nobody
(nos. of subjects)
Female 23 42 31
Last born 33 54 26
Most of the differences between boys and girls is in the medium
and high categories. Both have equal low use of the Nobody category.
mien sex and ordinal position are considered together, the differences
between the sexes only applies to the first born (p < .05). First-born
girls have very low and very high Nobody use, whereas first-born boys
'peak' in the medium category. This is a rather odd result on the face
of it, for it discounts the notion that girls are generally more inhibited
than males. Some are, but some others are less inhibited than males,
and the reason probably relates to family size and sibling composition.
A recurrent finding throughout this research is that girls are more affected
by their siblings than boys, but the direction of the effect is related
boys.
the sexes was in the low and the high categories, the difference between
first and later-born lies in the medium and low categories. Later-born
children are more than twice as likely to give only one or no allocations
all (or all but one) of the maternal preference items. These items,
with their implied criticism of the parents, are often avoided by the
born children, who are less parent directed, do not share their siblings
No. of Subjects 6 7 14 15 7 7 11 67
The mean scores on use of Nobody can then be compared for each sex,
Are there any differences between boys and girls and the first
Table 4.5
(N = 34)
MM 6 2.8 6 2.2
MF 10 3.4 10 3.6
FF 8 4.0 7 4.0
FM 10 2.5 10 2.4
rather than across the dyads and between those in the same ordinal position
or sex. Only the all male dyad shows a slight difference in mean use
in their use of Nobody, but girls use Nobody more than boys (t = 1.9;
p < .05, one-tailed). Girls with sisters have a very high use of Nobody
six items into the Nobody category, but this is not significantly different
items of the Children's Test can also be given by the subject to his or
On the whole, there is a very low use of the Self in the maternal and
Of the total sample, 41% of the children never use self at all
section is 49%; 30% and 26% gave one item to self on maternal and paternal
preference respectively, making a total of 71% and 75% who gave no items
or one item only to self on these sections. For this reason, no tests
were undertaken which relied solely on the use of the Self Category.
In some cases self choices are used in conjunction with other data.
preference items are given below, with the results of the statistical
analysis.
mothers. This is the 'child's eye view' of the cross sex preference
and may also reflect a higher premium placed on having a male child in
a patriarchal society.
of the twenty boys and twenty girls in cross sex dyads, does not support
the hypothesis that boys are more favoured by their mothers. Girls
have a slightly higher mean score (3.1) than boys (2.65). A t-test
However, when girls with brothers are compared with girls with
out the differences between children in the same and opposite sex dyads,
Table 4.6
The table suggests that whereas there are no differences in the allocations
to siblings of boys with brothers and those with sisters; girls with
brothers are more likely to think their siblings favoured than are girls
with sisters.
II. First-born children will see their younger siblings as preferred,
since they are reported more jealous and insistent on their rights (Koch,
1955).
The hypothesis that the first-born are more likely to see their
III. The first-born in a cross sex dyad will see the second-born as
more preferred than the first-born in a same sex dyad, and especially
that the older sister of a younger brother (F1M) will see her younger
Within the same and opposite sex dyads the mean scores to siblings
Table 4.7
Mean Maternal Preference Score to Sibling:
MM 1.83 0.83
MF 1.7 1.2
FF 0.87 0.5
FM 2.1 1.6
their siblings (1.9) than do first-born in same sex dyads (1.35), the
born in opposite sex dyads also allocate more favouritism items than do
DISCUSSION
There is, in fact, slight evidence from the children that the girl is
there is a cross sex effect with mothers being more indulgent of their
sons (Rothbart and Maccoby, 1966; Winch, 1962). Matching this (American)
evidence with the results of the present research and therefore assuming
mother does not act less punitively towards her son because she feels
over time and to each (same sex) child, but there were differences in
that the mother, perceiving the relationship between father and son
(between two males) as being based on power and control, 'balances' this
forward by Parsons and Bales (1947) who suggest that balance is achieved
on power and control in the family and on external matters. The com-
however, that the roles played by each parent are not ipso facto role
of which the sex of the child and the general cultural constraints governing
highly relevant.
with girls who have a sister. The family of two girls is reported to
be very harmonious (Koch, 1956; Bowerman and Dobash, 1974), and there
The younger sister (FF2) is reported by Koch to be one of the most feminine
of all females in two-child families at six; her sister, too, (F1F) scores
these girls have a fairly good relationship with each other; although
ship with the mother while the older girl is closer to her father (Koch,
1956). Rothbart (1966) also reports that the mother is more indulgent
'soft spot' suggest that he has a weakness for the first-born (F1F).
(Brim, 1958), the family of two girls is highly feminine. This enhanced
the girl with a brother is similar to that of the boys in the sample.
girl; for boys there is no parallel effect. This finding, of the greater
Smith and Rosenberg, 1964) and, in general, reflects the greater tendency
Ross, 1963).
Children's Test scores, and the girl who least uses the Nobody category
This girl is found on Koch's data to be very concerned with her relation-
Apperception Test, she shows a concern with mother and child relation-
favouritism (Koch, 1960). In her interview she expresses the view that
-5/
she would like to change places with her younger brother, whom she sees
as getting more attention and cuddling than she does. She quarrels
with him a great deal. On the maternal preference section she allocates
more items to him than any other child in the two-child families. This
allocation matches precisely that from the mother, who gives FM2 the
direct agreement with the report of Lasko (1954) and Hilton (1967).
an anxious and dependent first-born and a more relaxed and sociable second
with him/her and the comparatively more relaxed relationship with the
born children is due to the high regard the mother reports for the second
and sibling status is also found in the work of Koch (1955), who reported
that although the first-born were more jealous and insistent on their
rights, the first-born in a cross sex sibling group were most markedly so.
who was second born was warmer if the first was a girl; no similar effects
were reported for girls. Koch (1956) also reports this boy as mother-
indulged and 'babied'. There is no equivalent report for MF2, the younger
sister of a brother.
The higher score of the second-born in the opposite sex dyad (FM2
and MF ) lends some support to the general thesis that the more the mother
2
can differentiate between her children, the more able she is to have and
between the children, the mother finds it easier to admit (to the inter-
are of the same sex, then an admission that she prefers one is seen as
sex siblings are more threatening to each other because they are together
more, often have similar interests, and are compared more; by contrast,
opposite sex siblings are less threatening and more stimulating since
conflict over a class difference is less upsetting than over more unique
demonstrably different may lead the mother to treat them more differently
than the children feel is justified and this unjustified behaviour may
to differences in sex, and armed with this excuse may indulge the preferred
(younger) child. When children are of the same sex, the mother feels
sibling, with its implied rejection of the sex identity of the elder
The effect is apparent not only in the reports of jealousy, but at age
six years cross sex siblings are both more stressful and more stimulating
than same sex siblings, and the effects are especially marked for the
sex difference will make the first and second seem even more different.
jealous, the most mother-oriented of the boys, the most "sissyish" and
favouritism (1955) and in this research gives him the highest of all
preferences are quite clearly stated but none of the hypotheses relating
There are two possible reasons why this should be so; first, the children
of the Nobody category shows that this is not so since the mean allocations
to Nobody is the same for each member of each dyad (see Table 4.5).
She quite effectively conceals the more obvious manifestations from the
children; she probably states that there are no favourites and what
which the situation is more of a zero-sum game (where 'I win - you lose'
or 'You win - I lose' is the outcome of the game). where this situation
applies, the mother is probably very careful to avoid showing any favouritism.
In conclusion, therefore, what is reported in the two-child family
Three-Child Families
towards the second-born, especially in the cross sex dyad. Is the fond-
ness for the youngest also found in the three-child family? There is
evidence that suggests that the mother's closeness to the youngest might
Sears, Maccoby and Levin (1957) report that mothers said they were more
the two-child family). There is very little direct research into the
the triad that make it of particular interest (Simmel, 1950; Caplow, 1968).
This situation of two against one makes the three-child family possibly
more unstable than any other size. As far as the general issue of parental
to express (to the child and in the interview situation to the interviewer)
to the youngest in the three-child family was tested. Taking for each
mother the highest number of choices given to one of her three children,
is allocated one-half. If all three children have the same score, then
analysis.
Table 4.8
I II III Total
p < .01
The results reveal that the mother is closer to the third-born in three-
child families.
II. Using the same method, the choices to male and female children
were compared, in the twenty-two families that had at least one child
of each sex. Twelve choices were made to male children and ten to female
child was chosen (3% of F.B.); five second-born children (17%) and nine
are specified as female children, i.e. ten males and five females.
This is 25% of males in three-child families and 15% of females. The
slight advantage of males over females in the favoured group is not due
to the higher number of youngest males for there are equal numbers in
this group (N = 9). This may reflect the favoured position of a male
with two sisters (Rosenberg, 1965; Sears, Maccoby and Levin, 1957).
the sexes, nor between different ordinal positions, in their use of Nobody.
score for each child in the family. The median for the families was
then calculated and the sample divided according to the total preference
mother.
were fifteen in which all three children were tested and twelve in which
two out of three children were tested. The results for three-profile
Three-Child Families
(median = 2.0)
Low (0 - 2.0) 11 8 4 23
B. Families in which two out of three children have been tested (N = 12)
Low (0 - 2.0) 8 7 2 17
High (2.5 - 6.0) 4 5 10 19
12 12 12 36
Low (0 - 2.0) 19 15 6 40
27 27 27 81
The same type of analysis was performed to test the hypothesis that children
There was no difference in the mean allocation made to male and female
children.
DISCUSSION
by both the mother and the children in the family; in contrast with
the two-child family in which the report of the mother was not confirmed
by the children.
preference only in those families in which there was clear role distinction;
i.e. in the families with one child of each sex. Where the children
were very similar in status -same sex and generally close in age - the
family, an age based role structure emerges with an eldest, middle and
the youngest is frequently seen as the 'baby' of the family and, as the
Newsons (1970) report, the parents may consciously prolong his/her child-
hood. A quote from one of the mothers in the sample illustrates the
then Michael can say, 'Well, I'm Mummy's baby', or 'I'm special
because I'm the baby'. And Liz can turn around and say, 'Well,
for one, with its implied rejection of the other. As for the reporting
to name one child as preferred with the implication that two are less
preferred; in the two-child family when one child is chosen the implication
that the other one is not preferred is less palatable. Further, for
the children, they may feel that the youngest child has 'diplomatic immunity'
spoiled.
The general point seems to have been established in both two and
between the children, the mother and children are more likely to claim
one child.
the finding for the youngest child should be seen in the four-child family.
The evidence from the four-child family does not reveal a maternal preference
each new addition to the family, then the relationship the mother has with
for the youngest seen in the three-child family. Using the same criteria
Table 4.10
17)
Mother's choice: 4 5 3 3 2 17
When the scores for boys and girls in the fourteen families with
children of each sex are compared, there are no differences in the choices
There were six families in which there are three children of one
sex and only one child of the opposite sex. The concept of 'filial
value' (Krout, 1939), suggests that the child's filial value is increased
proportion to the number of the same sex in the family"(Krout, 1939, p.27).
and has strong claims for special treatment. Consideration of the data
reveals that in two families the mother has a 'soft spot' (Question 39)
for the singleton, but in the other four families there was no evidence
boys in the four-child families, but the first-born uses Nobody more
they receive from their siblings, for each family a 'favourite' (scoring
Table 4.11
of these families boys had the highest maternal preference score and
in eight families a girl had the highest scores. This represents roughly
DISCUSSION
larger family.
Since the reaction to personality-based differences is more variable
than the reaction to roles, there is less consistency across the four-
child families than across the smaller families. That sex is not a
been established in the total use of Nobody. The differences for the
total sample between boys and girls were significant at p < .001. This
involvement with parents are not sustained in two and three-child families,
PATERNAL PREFERENCE
with strong boundaries makes the role of every family member important
preference and also a report from the mother on the 'soft spot' of her
Table 4.12
2-child 33 6 8 4 15 0
3-child 29 5 7 1 13 3
4-child 17 5 5 1 3 3
researchers have indicated that the father is more indulgent towards the
The mother's report suggests that like herself the father has a
soft spot for the youngest in each family size. The tendency is only
weak in the two-child family but fairly clear in three and four-child
families.
Table 4.13
Father's 'soft spot' (report from mother) for each ordinal position
2-child 33 6 8 - - 4 15 0
3-child 29 0 4 9 - 1 13 2
4-child 17 1 0 3 6 2 5 0
the mothers in the two and three-child family, but tends more towards
'second-hand' reports are compared with the first-hand reports from the
children.
The use of Nobody varies between different family sizes with differences
between the sexes in the three and four-child families, but not in the
4.14 sets out the distribution, which reveals that fathers and mothers
Table 4.14
in the maternal preference section between the sexes and between first and
Table 4.15 sets out the differences between the sexes, for the total sample.
Table 4.15
Use of Nobody
Family Size Sex Low Medium High Chi-sq. p <
2-child Male 9 19 4
4.404 N/S
Female 8 15 12
3-child Male 15 17 8
9.651 .01
Female 2 21 9
4-child Male 2 17 2
9.251 .01
Female 11 11 7
There are differences between boys and girls in three and four-child
since eleven girls have low use of Nobody. The difference reinforces
the comments already made about the lesser importance of sex as an influence
no evidence, however, that the father has a preference for the second-born,
Table 4.16
Dyad N. I II
MM 12 1.3 1.3
14 1.1 1.2
FM 20 1.2 1.7
Table 4.17
Male Female
same sex 1.3 1.1
assumes more possible significance when compared with the higher choice
Fathers are seen by their children as preferring girls rather than boys.
Analysis: The sample median was 2.5 allocations and the scores of boys
and girls in cross sex families were classified high and low accordingly.
The data was then fitted into a two by two table and analyzed by chi-
square test, with Yates correction for the one degree freedom case.
Table 4.18
(N = 20)
Low 20 10 30
High 13 17 30
33 27 60
A t-test on the same data (after a chi-square test for 'goodness of fit',
chi-square = 8.00 with 5 d.f.), showed that the mean paternal preference
for boys (1.95) was different from that for girls (2.71). The probability
Both the chi-square and the t-test were undertaken on twenty families
I II III IV
3 1 2 5
indicating a slight but not significant leaning towards the youngest.
Eleven mixed sex families had a 'net' favourite, six of whom were male
and five female. There is, therefore, no evidence for cross-sex affect
DISCUSSION
marked than that of the mother. (The mother reports that 5 of their
husbands have no 'soft spot' for any particular child.) In the remaining
although girls in cross-sex dyads get higher scores than their brothers
they are not statistically supported: one, that both girls in the two-
girl family give each other more paternal preference allocations than
brother, who gives him the highest maternal preference score, gives her
reports a slight ordinal position effect, which parallels her own preference
child families. The same trend is not evident in the maternal preference
Table 4.19
the onAy girl (F1MM, 1 '2M, MMF3) scores significantly higher than
p < .025 (one-tailed)). She also scores significantly more than girls
with one brother and one sister (IMF, DUFF, FFM) (t = 1.94, with 21 d.f.;
p < .05 (one-tailed)). The only boy, however, does not score significantly
more than his two sisters, nor more than the boy with a brother and a sister.
-
For the mother, the 'only' children in three-child families score less
than their siblings, although the differences are very slight, and without
statistical significance.
For the mother, the most relevant role characteristic in the three-
the first relates primarily to the girl's sex and perceives this link
as an Oedipal one. This, however, raises the question of why the same
in the two-child cross-sex families, where F1M and MF2 both receive high
especially warm and solicitous with girls is more pronounced among fathers
than among mothers" (p.123). Similarly, the father will experience less
The second explanation is that the father sides with the 'odd man
out', and in so doing balances the coalition between the same-sex children.
pattern of two and one; the two joining forces generally do so on the
basis of similarity, the most usual basis being sex. So, the two factors
of (a) father's closer relationship to a girl, and (b) siding with the
odd one out in the sibling group, may work in conjunction, so that only
girls score higher than their brothers, but a single boy does not get
favours the single-sex child, rather than a child of the same sex as
opposite sex.
by uniqueness in the family group, but this affect only seems to be applicable
since the mother is with the children more often and has more control
The same general remarks that applied to the maternal preference section
three the basic role structure and organization of the family is modified.
-
harmonious, nor does she always get along equally well with each of them.
The second part of this chapter is concerned with the more negative and
difficult relationships the mother may have with any one of her children.
The data on the mother's negative perceptions came from her answers
(29) is demanding?
(31) is temperamental?
The first review of the data indicated that these questions were
far more complex than they had first appeared on the surface. Although
cases the meaning of the question was altered and then a different question
the mother may experience with a particular child. Since the answers
may then not be directly comparable, these questions are considered separately,
1. The question, "With which child do you have difficulty?" was inter-
preted in two different ways: one referred to the difficulties the mother
refers to her concern about the child, for example, difficulty in school
or in making friends.
The two different possible interpretations were separately coded.
about' the child. Table 4.20 sets out the answers: the most difficult
Table 4.20
Ordinal Position
Mother's reply I II III IV A11 None No inf.
•■•
No 28 22 4 1 5 12 6
Percentage of
each ord. pos. 37.8 30.0 12.5 14.2
When this table is broken down by family size, there are more first-
"Which child is the most demanding?" The assumption behind the question
is that the child who 'demands' is dissatisfied with the existing distribution
and is therefore more demanding. Table 4.21 sets out the replies for
from each ordinal position. Thus 24 per cent of first-born are named
as "demanding".
Table 4.21
Ordinal position
Mother's reply I II III IV None All No inf.
No 18 23 16 5 6 10 1
Percentage of
each ord. pos. 24.0 31.0 50.0 71.0.
mothers stated that the child was physically demanding; nine referred
that were made on their time, energy and resources. Other mothers simply
answered the question, without stating what they understood the question
to mean.
The reasons for the child's demands were various, but most fell
into two groups: personal or individual reasons and those that offered
and most of these referred to the temperament of the child or the difficulty
the child had in some personal relationship, either with parents or siblings.
being the fact that younger children were around the house all day and
the fact that the lower the ordinal position of the child, the higher
Not all mothers do and this is reflected in the fact that this question
elicited the response 'none' more often than any other (28%).
piloting stage, is the prime reason these results, when considered to-
restate the question in a less threatening form and then proceed to answer
the question for fear of shattering the interview rapport that has been
built up. This is even more likely since the respondents who restructure
sensitive issues are likely to be the most guarded and defensive subjects.
of the mother are presented for each family size. Results are only in-
Two-child Families
Table 4.22
Dyad N. I II
MM 12 1.16 0.83
FF 15 0.75 1.125
MF 20 1.1 1.1
FM 20 1.6 0.8
brother gets the highest positive score from their mother. This girl
has the highest comparative score of all the girls in two-child families;
only the very masculine and competitive MM gets a higher score. Although
2
this girl is very challenged and stimulated by her younger brother, she
Sutton-Smith and Rosenberg (1965) report that this dyad has the highest
this view.
Three-child Families
The mean score for each ordinal position is 1.2 allocations to the
in mind that most of the score to the youngest is in answer to the question
this low score coincides with the data on the youngest child presented
referred to and the fact that this child gets the highest score (although
Although there is only a little work in this area, what there is tends
getting (Gewirtz, 1948), are most changeable (Brock and Becker, 1965),
1966), and are least popular (Sells and Roff, 1963). These responses,
according to Sutton-Smith and Rosenberg (1970), are most often the out-
were first-born and eight were second-born. (This is 17% of all first-
five of these have first and second children of the same sex. All of
siblings of the same sex, i.e. they belong to family type M1M (NM or
FlF (F/M). Of the eight second-born who are problems, all three girls
in this category have an older and a younger brother, i.e. they are MF2M.
Of the five problem middle boys, two have opposite-sex older siblings
and three of the same sex; three have opposite-sex younger siblings
and two have same-sex younger siblings. Any conclusions from this data
same-sex sibling and then another. For the second-born boys, no general
theme is apparent, but the girl 'sandwiched' between two boys may have
difficulties.
7/8 -
Four-child Families
The mother does not report more difficulties with boys than with girls
the girl with a younger brother gets a high negative score as might be
expected from existing research in the two-child family (Koch, 1955, 1956)
data presented in this research (see Chapter 5). Also, within the three-
child family, there was a suggestion that the sibling constellation might
Sutton-Smith (1964) who found that sex role identification was similarly
SIBLING RELATIONSHIPS
with only little direct attention being paid to the character of the
Since reports are available from all the children in the family, a check
sibling affect were recorded: 10% claimed that they were 'not parti-
cularly close' and 3% said 'not at all close'. The level of positive
affect to sibling, compares with 71% who stated that they were close
to their mother and 61% close to their father. This information was
he was to his sibling and classified the answer into five categories,
are compared with those obtained from the Children's Test, in which
of multiple choice is seldom taken up), in this sample much lower levels
a clear picture of to whom the child reports most positive or most negative
affect.
John & Elizabeth Newson (1970) report that 57% of their sample four-
year-olds played with their siblings 'often' most days), 24% 'sometimes',
and only 19% 'never'. With this degree of contact it is very likely
that the children will work a modus vivendi, which is often determined
by the age and sex of the siblings. Koch (1955, 1956) reveals that
refer to the amount and type of contact between siblings. Koch speculates
that same-sex siblings are more likely to play together and this seems
This effect may be seen, for example, in the better adjustment of i11.12
born boy probably has a circle of his own and is less overshadowed by
sex sibling without being depressed by the constant contact and comparison
with them.
"It seems not unlikely that a sibling of the same sex is more
are compared with each other more frequently and find it difficult
to line up for support each with a different parent." (Koch, 1955, p.41)
similarity breed liking (Zajonc, 1968; Byrne, 1961) and from this it
would be expected that like-sex siblings and siblings close in age will
than within the home setting, since outside the home others may classify
Often older children are charged with the care of younger siblings when
outside of the home and in this care-taking capacity they are likely
into the appropriate peer group behaviour. After all, the younger
in that capacity; the elder child may, therefore, take steps to see
1
that the younger sibling does not tarnish his image.
other for various privileges and favours available in the home, outside
same group, and each may be judged by the standing of the other. The
fact that to an outgroup all siblings are members of the same ingroup
may make their behaviour to each other outside of the home more cohesive
1 Mrs. Gloria Carter Spann, sister of the 1976 Democratic Party Presidential
candidate, Jimmy Carter, recalls: "The day I started school, he asked
me not to tell anybody I was his sister because I didn't talk right:
I had been raised out there in the country around the black children
and I talked like they did". (Newsweek, July 19th, 1976)
and friendly. Many mothers reported that children who were quarrelsome
points out that when the system is breached in favour of one child,
it is resented by the other siblings who then pressure the parents into
abiding by the rules they have set up. Anna Freud describes the mechanisms
then the other children are likely to feel jealous, and their feelings
conflict that arises between siblings when competing for the same limited
are more likely to use direct power strategies, such as bossing, commanding,
hitting; the second-born are more likely to use indirect methods, like
so that while the second-born use more indirect influence nethods, the
second-born boy with an older sister (FM ) uses more direct power tactics
2
than she does, probably because he has the best chance of all second-
which there are probably two major ones: viz. ordinal position and sex.
1
Ordinal position is perhaps the more important of the two with its related
and animal groups those who are larger in size and ability generally
when the children are close in age and the ability differential is there-
the recipients of delegated power from the parents, and this further
model after their parents than later-born children, and slip easily
directly from the children themselves and are consensual reports; i.e.
when a child states that he uses a particular strategy to get his sibling
is the type of influence tactic used, but not its effectiveness nor the
longer term. Some types of power may be more effective in some contexts,
or types of family.
and girls use different influence tactics with their siblings, with
use more indirect methods, such as reasoning, defense, making the sibling
feel obligated. There is an obvious parallel here with the first and
more direct methods of the first-born, and of males, assure them of more
real influence than the less overt methods of girls and second-born children?
-42
Not necessarily so, but the more direct methods imply recognized (though
implication from the wider cultural setting in which males have more
power than females. The more indirect methods are dependent on inter-
or making the sibling feel obligated. In the latter case, if the sibling
but overall it is more likely that direct methods are more successful.
power tactics.
If boys are presented with models indicating that the use of direct
power is appropriate to their sex (and from media models this is frequently
will be more likely than girls to resist the power attempts of others
especially females, and in the sibling relationship boys are more likely
directly confront their sibling and most especially if the older sibling
is female. The high incidence of quarrelling in the 11M dyad and par-
ticularly in the FM dyad (Koch 1960) offers some support for this hypothesis.
this may not be transmitted to the child in so many words, the choice
1
of books, toys, available female models, all reinforce the stereotype.
1
The extent to which traditional female attributes are emphasized may
vary within different sub-cultures, and in different family types.
It may be that some families are more responsive to social change
and the impact of current changes in the family will have most marked
effects on the girls in these families (see Chapter 7).
Girls would therefore be expected to 'back off' more readily than
boys when there is conflict within the family. Though saying that good
for females, it does not follow that girls do not get involved in even violent
confrontations both with parents and with siblings, but the theshold
for such activities may be higher for girls than for boys and the in-
point of view, it is also probable that when doing the Children's Test,
sex families, then other things being equal, a stable hierarchical relation-
ship will develop in the sibling group. Because males are more likely
will be most likely in the all male family. We have already noted the
Where there are children of both sexes then difficulties may arise.
If the two criteria of power are coincident as in the case of the older
boy and younger girl, then the power relationship should be quite stable.
In the family with an older girl and a younger boy, a certain amount
by her sex and may therefore be overthrown by her brother who is weak
the ages.
and their likely outcomes have been set out. In reality the specific
roles: one, the direct socialization by the parents and, second, the
models available within the family, and in this chapter we will consider
old children from two-child families, Helen Koch found that such factors
ships to the child's sibling position. These data were collected from
degree of role assimilation. Thus boys with sisters show more 'feminine'
characteristics than boys with brothers, and similarly girls with brothers
sisters. These effects are most marked for the younger (less powerful
members) of the sibling dyad: FM2 and MF2; findings which are compatible
with the general hypothesis that in role playing situations the less
of the sex roles was based on empirical studies and on the major theoretical
as typical of male and female sex roles and in Brim's study each teacher
for the younger sibling. Brim suggests that one of the factors that
then we would expect even greater sex role assimilation in these families
The possibility that families vary in their attitude to sex role differences
families other factors may come into play. In three or four-child families
sex, the same siblings may pair off by sex, thus minimizing cross-sex
effects.
sex dyads) suggests that children will vary in their attitude to their
evidence that this is the case from the work of Bowerman and Dobash (1974),
boys. Boys (and siblings who assimilate the more masculine and aggressive
traits of boys) may reveal a more negative picture of the sibling relation-
ship. These effects may vary further with ordinal position variations
and age-spacing.
Summary
(b) power and influence tactics siblings use in interaction with each
be expected to show more direct and overt aggression than girls (Sears,
1951; Sutton-Smith & Rosenberg, 1968) and girls will show more concern
with domestic and emotional issues, i.e. boys and girls will manifest
Test will show the effects of these influences. More directly aggressive
of family harmony will allocate fewer negative and more positive items
to their siblings.
These effects are not considered in this chapter but are dealt with in
four sections of the Children's Test are considered. They are the
getting more than he deserves and the feeling on the part of the other
that he is 'losing out', or receiving less than his fair share, e.g.
'This person can always get what they want'. In many families these
two feelings are ii.equently confounded since the child may experience
between the first and later-born in the extent to which they utilize
dicated that the first-born were more likely to give negative items
Table 5.1
Use of Nobody'
Low High Total
First-born 53 21 74
Later—born 95 18 113
Chi-square = 3.867 on 1 d.f.; p = < .05
3. Friction. As Table 5.2 reveals, there are sex differences in the
use of Nobody in all family sizes except the four-child.
Table 5.2
Use of Nobody
Family Size Sex Low High Uhi-s .
female 13 22
female 11 21
female 12 17
When first and later-born children are compared, there are differences
for the total sample (p = < .05) but these differences are not maintained
within each family size. The reason there is little difference between
items are of a factual rather than an emotional nature, for example 'This
sections of the test, girls use Nobody more than boys. When the data
Use of Nobody
Family Size Sex Low High Chi-s .
All families male 51 40 8.022 .01
female 34 62
female 13 22
female 8 24
female 13 16
Table 5.4
Use of Nobody
' 0
L-B 59 54
L-B 18 15
L-B 20 25
L-B 21 14
1
In sum: there are sex differences in the use of Nobody on all three
negative indices, but these differences are maintained only in the three-
or threekr-child families.
Table 5.5 sets out the scores to highlight the effects of-sex
measures (p< .05), but since the t-test is robust for departures from
normality (Robson, 1973), t-tests have been done on the positive scores.
Results
1. Sex. Girls are more positive to their siblings than boys (p< .01).
This finding echoes that of Bowerman and Dobash (1974) in which more
boys (p< .01), but not significantly less on the negative section.
Since the negative section is more general in its scope than the friction
between the scores of the first and second-born on any of the four measures.
items would be allocated by the second-born, since they are at the receiving
to each other than opposite-sex dyads (p< .01), and report less friction
(p< .05). This is in line with the general finding that similarity
Bowerman and Dobash's survey (1974), subjects with same sex siblings
form of the Bene-Anthony Family Relations Test, also found that same-sex
3(a). Same-sex Opposite sex: male. When males with sisters are compared
are not corroborated. The scores of the boys in the MM dyad do not
this table are those between girls with a brother and those with a sister.
less negative feelings towards them (p< .01), less friction (p< .01),
and show slightly less jealousy (p< .05), than girls with a brother.
is in line with empirical findings of Koch (1955) who reports that the
two girls have harmonious relationships and as a dyad have the lowest
their mother favours him (Chapter 4). Opposite-sex dyads are named
sex dyad report themselves as more positive (p< .02), and as experiencing
with what has already been said about the same and opposite-sex dyads.
is surprising in view of the fact that Koch (1955) found that first-born
the opposite applies and the second-born is more jealous and competitive;
this, she claims, is due to the greater contact of the second-born same-
sex sibling with his/her older and generally more successful sibling.
same-sex dyads, so that they are only slightly less than the scores of
Discussion
to say. Since girls are probably socialized into more positive family
attitudes, they may 'really' feel more positive to their siblings, and
the Children's Test and therefore report a more glowing picture of their
sibling relationships.
sisters are more positive and less negative on all measures than are
may model themselves on their brothers more than vice versa, since they
see their brothers as having more direct power, possibly utilizing that
behaviours that seem to find favour with their parents. There is also
les sanction on girls copying boys ('a tomboy') than vice versa ('effeminate'
and masculine role preference are widespread among girls'. In the same
experiment, where female models appeared to have high reward power and
type in which males have power (i.e. allocate resources) and females
than vice versa is also found in the work of Brim (1958). Girls with
a brother, both older and younger, were rated by their teachers as having
more 'masculine traits' than girls with a sister. The effects are
(i.e. MF2 compared with FF2). For boys the same effect applies but
it is marked only for the younger member of the dyad (i.e. FM as compared
2
with MM2). Similarly, Bigner (1972), in a study of sibling influences
the results of Bigner's work confirmed the general hypothesis that siblings
also consonant with work indicating that sex role preference is more
variable for girls than for boys, and girls are therefore more susceptible
found that subjects with brothers were superior to subjects with sisters
to the two to four-year age gap. Schoonover (1959) found that siblings
arithmetic tests and, more generally, Altus (1966) found that more girls
with older brothers attended college than girls with older sisters.
as an act of aggression, albeit a minor one, then these girls will have
more 'femininized' by each other, will reveal more concern about maintaining
expect more overt conflict in these sibling dyads and less inhibition
the all female dyad, the scores of girls with brothers will reveal a
Table 5.6
1. The table makes it clear that the first-born girl with a younger
that the difference in Table 5.5 between first-born in same and opposite-
sex dyads was almost entirely due to the contribution of this girl.
opposite-sex dyads.
males. His anxiety and conformity suggest that when confronted with
a touchy subject his reaction may be defensive, hence the low comparative
score. Alternatively, there are certain reasons for believing that MIM
In Koch's work (1955) he has a low jealousy rating (lower than all other
the mother is more positive to him than to his younger brother. She
argues that the first-born male has a special place in his mother's
Moving ahead a little, there is some indication that the latter explanation
is more plausible, since Mil has the highest comparative score of all
2
children in two-child families.
i.e. M F and F the scores are very similar in. every respect, and
1 1
moreover very close to the score of the first-born male with a younger
brother (191). This further endorses the finding that the effect of
two counts, friction (p< .02) and comparative (p< .01). This is in
line with all that has been said about the comparative harmony of the
siblings. However, the frequency with which such tactics are employed
-
may vary with sex and first-born boys may use them more with their siblings
than first-born girls. Other evidence supports the notion that the
be argued that the younger boy with an older brother, who is likely
and conflict ensues. This dyad has the highest incidence of quarrelling
(Koch, 1960). By contrast the two-girl family has the lowest quarrelling
score, suggesting that the first-born girl may seldom resort to direct
Koch (1955) found that first-borns in opposite-sex dyads were more likely
the same-sex dyads the relationship was reversed and the second-born
that this may vary according to the sex of the children. In an experimental
setting, in which mothers and their first and second-born children were
and cautious in directing their boys but more demanding, exacting and
mother and first-born son, makes her temper her pressure on this boy
but for the first-born girls no such tempering exists. This may mean
that the second-born boy with an older brother (MM2) has fewer expressions
colder towards the second-born boy, if she already has a son. By contrast,
the second-born girl with an older sister does not experience the rivalry
her mother is reported to feel towards her older sister (iothbart, 1967,
quoted Sutton-Smith & Rosenberg, 1970). Further, Koch (1955) reported that
her mother favours her whilst her father is closer to her older sister.
score (p< .05, one-tailed direction predicted) where FE2 has a higher
and assertive and she probably takes up a mother-surrogate role vis a vis
this (as a male) and directly confronts her using similar power tactics
and since he has a good chance of overthrowing her, probably the best
1
of all second-borns, the confrontation is acrid and prolonged. In
Koch's work (1960), this boy has the highest quarrelling score. In
terms of the model outlined in the introduction, where sex and ordinal
position are bases for sibling power, this dyad is unstable; she has
the two criteria are consonant; the older boy has more power, and hence
Table 5.7 holds sex and ordinal position constant, and compares
1
These statements are subject to modification depending on age-spacing
and differences in personality. A very strong first-born girl may
easily resist the challenge of the younger boy, and similarly a younger
sibling with a very strong personality may easily overcome the age-
based power of the first-born.
Table 5.7
Mean Scores to Same and Opposite Sex Sibling
sibling-related measure.
in larger samples.
4. Second-born girls with brothers are less positive and more generally
negative to them, but the differences do not reach the necessary level
Note that second-born boys score higher than any other group on
the friction measures, indicating that they react more to the domination
Table 5.8
•Mean Score to Sibling on Positive, Negative, Friction
and Comparative in each Dyad
same dyads is that between the elder and younger brother in the all-male
dyad, where the comparative score of the younger boy is significantly higher.
Incidentally, this boy is also more positive and shows more friction, suggesting
that he might have an overall greater involvement with his brother than vice-
versa.
2. The scores in the older boy/younger girl dyad are generally similar;
she is slightly more positive to him and he is the only one of the first-borns
1
whose friction score is higher than that of the younger sibling.
3. The two-girl family has the highest positive scores, and the lowest
scores on all other measures. The first-born girl most markedly so.
4. There are three factors of interest in the score of the FM dyad: one,
the positive and negative scores are almost identical, suggesting a general
similarity of sibling attitudes; two, he, along with the other second-born
friction allocation; and, three, the girl has the second highest comparative
score, suggesting that she is jealous of her younger brother, who is her
would expect that the scores on these three measures would be lower.
and as such they might elicit a different response set from girls and
Both these test factors may well have a corollary in the real
the test context and extrapolating beyond this into the home. Like-
and later-born (Sears, 1951; Goodenough & Leahy, 1927), and between
boys and girls (Sears, 1951). In terms of family concern, girls would
the chapter.
I FIRST-BORN GIRLS
first-born girls showed hardly any aggression at all and that all boys
manifest more aggression than the girls, indicating that the responses
are sex-typed. It might be argued that the doll play setting, with
be many and varied. Girls, with their superior verbal abilities during
give vent to their aggression through more covert and insidious means.
Means that are dependent on knowing the adversaries' weak spot, and
there may be a taboo imposed by the parents on the boy hitting the girl
that is, they may call in parents, teachers or other sympathetic adults
to fight their battles for them ('He hit me'; 'he took my book';
meaning 'Now you punish him'.) The very devious may even provoke a
families.
siblings when female, what are the precise factors that lie behind this
result? In all respects except sex of sibling the girl with a brother
and the girl with a younger sister are the same. As first-born females,
both will have been subject to similar regimen from their parents.
born children and than boys. As first-borns they are both equally
issues. Research also indicates that until the age of ten or so the
their pre-teen years girls are more likely to show preference for masculine
show own-sex preference very early and are constant in that preference.*)
and girls are therefore more susceptible to the influence of male models
they are displaced in one case by a male sibling and in the other by
Since he has potentially higher power (in society) and more real power
vis a vis their mother, and his overt expression of aggression may be
* Bigner, 1972
Hence the indications in the test that she matches his masculine aggression
the sample.
by her younger male sibling and scores very high on teacher-rated positive
ship and believes that her mother favours her younger brother; she
in the reports of the girl. She is correct in believing that her mother
of his favoured position in the family (and possibly his favoured position
in society), has ordinal position power, and a masculine model for direct
her higher status and aligns her with her powerful parents. Since
her sister will also be socialized into domestic and emotional concerns,
a surface harmony may become the norm between these two girls. The
first-born girl is more likely to be bossy and more directive, but unlike
the younger brother, the younger sister is more likely to comply with
the power attempts, although some signs of the incipient rebellion may
be seen in the less positive and more negative allocations of this girl
by their mother (Koch, 1955; Rothbart, 1967), and there is a weak (non-
displaced in her mother's favour, FlF is not displaced from her higher
jealousy she feels is likely to be concealed since this girl curbs her
aggression and has a high identification with her mother and therefore
II FIRST-MUT BOYS
born girls and develop some of the same personality traits. They are
boys they are probably allowed to give vent to their aggression more
openly than are girls. As first-born males they are likely to have
a high status both in their families and to a slight extent in the society
as a Whole.
that his mother favours his younger brother. Rothbart's work suggests
the mother feels a special attachment to the first male child and does
and Dobash (1974) report that MiMs see themselves as closer to their
siblings than their siblings are to them, and with age there is a marked
that the mother favours MM2, although the high score on the comparative
section gi-ven by MN suggests that it is the younger and not the older
2
brother who is jealous. These findings are in line with the speculations
the more positive (or less negative) to their sibling. (M1Ms allocate
born boy is closer to the mother however (and the evidence here is mixed)
behaviour on the part of the younger brother, hence the high incidence
these two boys. If the mother switches her attention from the first-
born to the second-born male, then the displaced first-born may experience
will be compared and will compare themselves; ceteris paribus the older
boy will have superior talents (age-related) and may flaunt these abilities.
The younger boy may be envious of the talents of the elder and the fact
that he will later acquire those same talents is of little comfort since
his older brother will then have moved on to some other higher level.
perhaps he is the one who feels most jealous. This would endorse the
counter to Koch's findings that LiMs think that their mothers favour
their younger sibling. In this research, ;Allis also think that their
mothers favour Li and the mother herself reports a more positive relation-
2'
ship with 1112. (Lleither difference is statistically significant - see
Chapter 4.)
the first-born boy with a younger sister has his status 'doubly' emphasized;
both as male and as the first-born. However, the evidence from the
mother, but this does not appear to affect the comparative score of the
but it may be that the first-born male is so secure in his worldly status
that the greater indulgence of the mother towards his younger sister
not because she prefers the younger girl but because she is younger and
she is a girl:
This boy has one unusual Score, he allocates more items to his younger
sister on the friction section than she does to him. In all other
nificant) but it may be that since a younger sister is less easily absorbed
same sex, their interests and concerns are likely to be similar and
they can play together quite easily; a younger brother can be more
easily assimilated into the games of his older sister (e.g. 'house'
pursuits.
(1560)
In hoch's work this boy sees his sister as victorious in their
quarrels more often than any other first-born. She endorses this viewpoint.
The explanation may be that he is severely restricted in the type of
aggressive tactics that he can utilize towards her because of her sex.
to parent (p< .001), cry, pout and sulk (p< .01), all of them with great
effectiveness since she is more often the victor. Though whilst apparently
less powerful than he (as a girl and as the younger child) she is none-
theless using her power more effectively. She can call on powerful
allies (parents) because she appears to be weak, and can use physical
This is a clear vindication of the view that the more obvious types of
1 .
Question 21 asks the mother to describe her children and in two-child
families a typical characterization is the anxious, introverted first-
born and the more relaxed and extroverted second-born child. This
is similar to the findings of Dean (quoted Lasko,1954) that the first
child was described as more worried, sensitive and more dependent
on adults, while the second was more affectionate, independent and
physically aggressive towards peers.
—/S7-
the first have only one. Second-born children can model themselves
after both their parents and their siblings and sibling influences act
fluences in her family, from both her mother and her elder sister.
The elder sister may adopt a 'mothering' role towards her which may
is drawn into her sister's orbit and may constantly play an inferior
role to her older sister and this has a slightly depressing effect on
the favourite of her mother and this finding agrees with the American
research of Rothbart (1967) and Koch (1955). Koch also reports that
the father tends to favour her older sister. On these ratings she
is less positive and more negative and gives more friction items than
her older sister, suggesting tnat she is less happy with the relation-
ship than her older sister. Although there are differences on every
other measure, the comparative scores are the same, suggesting that
although the younger girl is dominated more by her older sister, she
their mother?).
1
It is possible that the differences might reach the level of statistical
significance in larger samples.
P. Second-born girls with an older brother (E F )
2
This girl does not have the congruity of models as does the second-
born girl with a sister. She models after both her mother and her
older brother (Brim, 1958). This has a strong effect on her personality.
(Altus, 1966; Douglas, 1964) than FF2; is more often rated a 'tomboy'
six, as rated by her teacher (Koch, 1956), and has the most 'masculine'
self report of all girls at eleven and nineteen (Sutton-Smith & Rosenberg,
favoured by her mother, but if she is indulged this does not apparently
born male. However, should she be close in age and more vigorous and
challenging to her older brother, then this creates possibly the most
IV SLCOID-BORN BOYS
born boy', since second-born implies low status and boy implies higher
large extent on the sex of the older sibling. The fact that both second-
born boys have the highest friction scores hints at the resistance they
may put up against accepting their lower status in the pecking order
the two dyads with younger male siblings, i.e. MN and FM, have the two
Mothers who had a boy were less enthusiastic about their pregnancy than
warm to their second-born sons, if they already had a boy. (The same
effects are not observable for a boy who follows a girl, nor for a girl
who is second-born.)
comparative score from MM2. (The only one that is significantly different
and elsewhere, this score might represent a measure of envy on the part
two feelings.
sister has the second highest jealousy score. All of the characterizations
of the boy with an older sister suggest that he is spoiled and indulged
less achieving.
This boy has a very close relationship with his mother who indicates
the attempts at domination by his older and jealous sister, and meets
the view presented by the mother and sister that he is the favoured
position of the older girl vis a vis her mother has beneficial effects
ness).. For the younger boy, however, the reverse seems to apply.
been considered in any detailed way and that is the precise effects
- /6 -
both within and outside the home, special links and relationships within
upset can be predicted in some cases, as in the case of the older boy
and younger girl, where the threat possibly posed by a younger female
to be matched with the results here. The increase in family size from
troduces a whole new set of variables and with four children the picture
matching - one parent to one child - is ruled out, because this leaves
one child out in the cold. Within the sibling group, there will be
two children of like sex and one child of opposite sex. Rosenberg
and Sutton-Smith (1964) have shown how sex role identification is affected
sibling (Koch, 1955, 1956; Brim, 1958, Rosenberg & Sutton-Smith, 1964,
Bigner, 1972), so that the boy with a sister scores higher on clinical
measures of femininity than does the boy with a brother. In the three-
child family, however, the pattern is reversed; the boy with two sisters
with too much feminine influence within the family, resist the assimilation
to the triad, and it is often likely to devolve into two against one.
23 of the families all three of the children agreed that there was a
the same sex and often close in age. Caplow concludes that siblings
team up on the basis of likeness and similarity, the most common basis
being sex.
Within the three-child family there are three possible and recognized
ordinal positions, each with its special advantages. The eldest generally
have the superior status of being the first and most competent members
to care for and oversee the younger children in loco parentis. This
delegated power and their greater general ability reinforces the stature
regarded as the 'baby' of the family and is indulged (Sears et al, 1957;
Lasko, 1954). In Chapter 4 the special regard that the mother has for
the youngest was clearly demonstrated and was also recognized by the
other children. The middle child may have a rather difficult position
the sibling group. Most of the research relating to the middle child
has negative connotations. In some families the middle child may occupy
that the father may take a special interest in the single-sex child
In the work of Sears et al (1957) the middle child had more house-
hold chores to do and even when family size was held constant this
compared with the youngest child. The mother also reported that the
middle and youngest quarrelled with their siblings more. She placed
Table 5.9
Table 5.9 sets out the results on four measures for children in three-
1. Sex. Boys show more friction towards their siblings (p< .05)
and express more jealousy (p< .01) than do girls. This is in line
with the results from two-child families which revealed a more positive
On the negative score the more inhibited first-born score less than
to the domination and power attempts of older siblings and the reaction
for the youngest probably has to put up with a certain amount of ordering
about and bossing by the older children. So, if the position of youngest
•
has its advantages vis a vis the mother, it has certain disadvantages
•
vis a vis older siblings. That the third child is favoured by his
the first have similar scores, both significantly different from the
The difficulties faced by the middle child have already been sketched
and in Chapter 4 the mother reported that the middle-born were more
little research that is concerned with the middle child, but most of
(Gewirtz, 1948), are most changeable (Brock & Becker, 1965), are less
child has the highest score but the difference is not significant.
All three boys have quite a high comparative score and no one ordinal
-/6
is again apparent (p< .05). Boys who are youngest in a family of three
may experience and report greater friction with their siblings than
youngest girls, because they may resist the attempts to dominate them
respect.
3(b) Among the girls the third child is more negative than the other
two ordinal positions (p<.05), the first child reveals less friction
(p< .02), and the middle-born child appears as the most jealous (p< .02).
lies in the fact that the sibling constellation of each ordinal position
knowledge of the sibling group to which the child belongs; for example,
of her sex and ordinal position she is likely to take on a proxy maternal
role towards her younger siblings (Cicirelli, 1976). She may elicit
direct conflict with her younger siblings. Why should the middle girl
be more jealous (relative to other girls) than the middle boy? The
between two boys, whereas only three of the fifteen middle boys are
far larger samples will be required for the careful elaboration of the
sibling constellation, Table 5.10 and 5.11 set out the scores given
by boys and girls in each ordinal position to male and female siblings.
The cell sizes are in many cases too small for statistical analysis
and all statements are therefore tentative.
Table 5.10
Subject N. Sibling:
Ord. Pos. Sex Friction Comp.
than the youngest, and a second-born male more than the second female.
As a general rule it would be expected that the siblings who are closest
to each other in age would report more friction with each other, since
they are probably more often in contact with each other. For the same
(This is the case for males but as Table 5.11 reveals, not for females.)
both younger male siblings and younger female siblings, and NiF is more
irritated by his younger sister than she is by him. (An unusual report
born male; the addition of a third child seems to lessen the powers
deflect her attentions from her older brother and to take up a maternal
■
role Iris a vis the new baby. The second-born male also elicits a high
that where the first and second are of the same sex the first is more
more powerful first-born, but unlike the first-born does not appear to
of that sibling. For the first-born boy (in the three-child family)
Like the first-born males they also react more vigorously to a male
the second-born male gets the highest score from the youngest, but since
there are only four boys in this category, the statement is very ten-
tatively made.
Table 5.11, and in some respects parallel those of the boys. (see
1. For the first-born girls as for boys, there is more friction ex-
do not elicit more friction for girls, but a male sibling elicits more
1
friction from all girls in three-child families. Similarly, in the
two-child families, the girl with a younger brother (FIN) has the highest
their male siblings than between children and their female siblings.
2. For the second-born girls, the high friction score given to them
distributed more or less equally among both first and third-child, which
Table 5.11
Subject N. Sibling:
Ord. Pos. Sex N. Friction Comp.
second-born boy, to whom she gives a high friction and a quite high
consists of only three children, the likelihood that this finding will
a male sibling seems to attract more friction items than a female sibling;
(2) the clearest exception (and this is found also in two-child families)
is that of the second-born boy, who does not seem to differentiate between
a male and a female sibling and allocates equal friction items to them.
the middle-born girl, the direction of her allocations does not hint
to the first and third child. This is most probably because the relevant
ship, for example, of a first-born boy to his younger brother will probably
one younger brother is high in anxiety, but with two younger brothers
but with two younger sisters he becomes high on anxiety. Similar findings
are reported for girls. Because of the low cell frequencies in this
the same ordinal position and of the same sex, in families of different
types.
each ordinal position. The first-born has low negative scores, a finding
in keeping with the more controlled and inhibited picture of the first
the mother's favourite was made. In this chapter we can see that
to the mother, in the sibling group he may have a rather lowly position
and become butt of many power attempts by the other two children.
allocations, it appears that the first and second-born are more likely
to report conflict with each other than with the third, and that for
explain the high comparative score of the middle girl suggests that
child are grouped together under the rubric 'later born'; sometimes
second and third are lumped together under the classification 'inter-
ordinal position distinction that the mother makes relevant, and possibly
for the father a sex distinction. The suggestion has already been
made, that the increase in family size from three to four may signal
the essence of the shift being a change from role or status-based differen-
families of six or more children, the family of four may embody some
Within the four-child family there are eight kinds of male first-
Within the sibling group children may have a variety of models both
of their same-sex and of the opposite sex. Two girls and two boys
will, all other things being equal, probably group together on the basis
of sex; with three children of one sex and one 'singleton', a coalition
may form between the same-sex siblings isolating the single-sex child.
Krout's (1939) concept of 'filial value' would suggest that the singleton
evidence that this was the case, in the matter of maternal favouritism.
The scores of each sex and ordinal position are set out in Table 5.12:
Table 5.12
Four-Child Families
between the friction and comparative scores of boys and girls in four-
of four, then the variety of models available for any child to choose
from means that sharp sex differences are minimized, and unlike girls
higher on friction than the first and the youngest. On the comparative
measures the first-born has a low score, and the third-born a rather
high score. The low score of the first-born contrasts with the rather
sibling status. In all three family sizes, the first-born share the
been somewhat anxiously cared for, and then of having been displaced
children is retained.
The highest score, that of the third-born, may be due to the fact
that these are the children who have most recently been displaced.
They are mostly quite young children (only seven of their younger siblings
are old enough to be able to complete the test), and therefore still
closely tied to their mother with only weak peer group affiliations.
the third-born and then a low score from the fourth. (Since there
are only three fourth-born boys, this score is not considered.) The
increase in friction with the move down the pecking order is predictable.
On the comparative measures, the third-born boy has a very high score
(5.4 from a possible total of 7). The reasons are probably as set
out in the previous paragraph: viz. the close emotional bond that still
exists towards the mother and the most recent experience of displacement.
low score. Among the other three ordinal positions there are no differences.
Within the four-child family the possibility of clearly defined
come to the fore (Bossard & Boll, 1956). There is no way in this research
ship that they have with each other. Although this may apply to two
child family. Here the sibling group may develop a cohesion of its
own, and rivalries and jealousies in the group may exist independently
of the parents and their actions. Bossard & Boll (1954) found that
their sense of emotional security stemmed more from their siblings than
from their parents. Older siblings took on parental roles and res-
by the standards used by Bossard & Boll, a large family, but it may
contain some of the same influences and forces. Since the possibility
AG1;-SPACING
the children are in years, the greater the difference in treatment, and
the less the tendency to compare with each other. Similarly, the closer
the children are in age the more similarly they will be treated; twins
should be treated exactly the same and any marked differences would
exactly alike in theory, both the children themselves and/or their parents
every large family, and what is more interesting that every person had
the same type. There is a grey area in age-spacing where the children
are similar enough for some purposes and different enough for others;
this lies between two and four years. In Helen Koch's data, although
there were clear ordinal and sex effects, the most marked effects are
lasting influence.
The hypothese7, that there would be more friction, jealousy and
interaction was also calculated and the two groups compared. The results
Table 5.13
the younger child may by dint of talent and ability threaten the status-
born may regard as his natural supremacy in the sibling group. (Several
for boys; with the exception that second-born boys with older
to their siblings than boys; the same effects are not seen in
four-child families.
older sibling.
Far2:XT
there was jealousy and fourteen specified a jealous child; ten children
that both their children were jealous and eleven said 'none'. Chi-square
at p< .05 level, indicating that the mother was more likely to think
it does not match up with the direct reporting of the first-born then-
selves. They are, in fact, less likely than the second-born to allocate
inhibition and the use of Eobody (Chapter 3), it may be inferred that
children are from opposite sex dyads in which the second-born got
significantly higher preference choices. Referring to the Children's
sex dyads allocate more negative and friction items to their younger
mothers' replies.
Table 5.15
Three-Child Families: N = 29
N.* 14 12 1 1 7
`, age 48 41 3 3 24
cited, but of the nineteen families in which only one child is said to
in which the first and second are same-sex (7571, of such families) and
seven to families in which the first and second are opposite-sex (5e
of such families.
Within the four-child family, there are no clear patterns in the mothers'
effects.