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The Effects of Birth Order and Parental Attention on Self-Esteem
by Stephanie Wilson '02

Table of Contents

Abstract

The Effects of Birth Order and
Parental Attention on Self-Esteem
Methods
     Participants
     Materials
     Procedure
Results
Discussion

References
Appendix A

Abstract

Self-esteem is an extremely important aspect of an individual's personality. The thoughts and actions of an individual are greatly influenced by his or her self-esteem. Because of the importance of self-esteem, this study focused on determining some of the factors affecting self-esteem. Specifically, this study looked to determine the effects of birth order and parental attention on self-esteem. A person with high self-esteem believes that he is "good enough," has self-respect, and "feels that he is a person of worth" (Rosenberg, 1965). A person with low self-esteem "lacks respect for the self he observes" (Rosenberg, 1965). For this current study, 98 college students completed Rosenberg's Self-esteem Scale, Rosenberg's Parental Interest Index (Rosenberg, 1965), and a questionnaire asking for the participant's age, gender, number of siblings, and age and gender of siblings. The hypotheses of this study were that parental attention and self-esteem would be positively correlated, there would be birth order differences in both parental attention and self-esteem, and that parental attention would serve as the mediator for birth order differences in self-esteem. The hypothesis that parental attention and self-esteem would be positively correlated was supported with birth order and gender as being moderating factors for the correlation. The hypotheses that there would be birth order differences in parental attention and self-esteem and that parental attention would serve as the mediator for birth order differences in self-esteem were not supported. The study also found that males had higher self-esteem than females, the self-esteem of females was related to parental attention, and the self-esteem of males was related to birth order. The lastborns appeared to be the only group in the sample for which significant differences were found. Suggestions for further research in the areas of self-esteem, birth order, and parental attention are discussed.

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The Effects of Birth Order and Parental Attention on Self-Esteem

There has been a lot of research done on the nature of self-esteem, but there is still much that can be studied about the subject. It is important to consider the possible factors affecting self-esteem as it has been supported that one's self-esteem affects several aspects of one's life. Psychologists have posed several hypotheses about what may affect self-esteem, but no definite conclusions have been drawn. In fact, some studies have contradictory results. This study looked to determine whether birth order and parental attention are factors influencing self-esteem.

There are two connotations of self-esteem (Rosenberg, 1965). One way of looking at self-esteem is to say that a person with high self-esteem considers himself to be "very good." Another view of self-esteem is to say that a person with high self-esteem believes he is "good enough" (Rosenberg, 1965). The current study used Rosenberg's self-esteem scale, which measures the latter definition of self-esteem. According to Rosenberg (1965), a person with high self-esteem "simply feels that he is a person of worth; he respects himself for what he is... he does not necessarily consider himself superior to others." He defines a person with low self-esteem as someone who "lacks respect for the self he observes" (Rosenberg, 1965).

Arguably, the most important years in the development of an individual's self-esteem occur during childhood and adolescence. During childhood, the most influential people in an individual's life are his or her parents. Wylie (1961) states that: "(a) The self concept is a learned constellation of perceptions, cognitions, and values. (b) An important part of this learning comes from observing the reactions one gets from other persons. (c) The parents are the persons who are present earliest and most consistently." Studies show that children are affected by parent-child communication (Matteson, 1974), perceived parental favoritism (Zervas and Sherman, 1994), and parents' differential treatment (McHale, Crouter, McGuire, and Updegraff, 1995). These are all different aspects of parental attention.

The subject of birth rank was first introduced by Alfred Adler. He used birth order "as a basis for predicting characteristic behavior of individuals" who fell into the categories of either "eldest, middle, youngest, or only child" (Greenberg, Guerino, Lashen, Mayer, and Piskowski, 1963). Birth order has been found to be "an important and complex variable in personality development" (Gates, Lineberger, Crockett, and Hubbard, 1988). The results of birth order research are not conclusive and many have contradictory results (Gates et. al, 1988), but nevertheless research on the subject has provided some interesting perspectives on the effects of birth order on characteristic behavior and personality development of individuals.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of parental attention and birth order on self-esteem. This study examined whether parenting differences by birth order exist and whether there are differences in self-esteem that may be related to ordinal position. More specifically, the purpose of this study was to confirm birth order differences in self-esteem, to examine the relation between parental attention and self-esteem, to confirm birth order differences in parental attention, and to determine whether parental attention can serve as a mediator of birth order differences in self-esteem.

It is important to study self-esteem because of the implications of high and low self-esteem on an individual. Rosenberg (1979) claims that "a major determinant of human thought and behavior and a prime motive in human striving... is the drive to protect and enhance one's self-esteem." This suggests that the thoughts and actions of an individual are greatly influenced by his self-esteem. Thus, studying self-esteem and its factors is important to psychologists in helping to explain a person's thoughts and behaviors. Studies have supported the idea that "there is some relation, under certain conditions, between self-regard and sociometric status," i.e., that "high self-regard will lead to better ability to get along with others, and that acceptance by others will maintain or enhance self-regard" (Wylie, 1961). This indicates that a person's self-esteem is related to how that person relates with others. Studies have also shown that high self-esteem is "significantly associated with lower incidence of ... depression signs" (Wylie, 1961). Rosenberg (1965) studied the relationship between depression and self-esteem and found that only 4% of the people with the highest self-esteem were highly depressed, while 80% of the people with the lowest self-esteem were highly depressed. These are strong indicators that there is a relationship between self-esteem and depression, although it does not necessarily show a cause and effect between the two. Rosenberg (1965) also found that 19% of the people with the highest self-esteem and 69% of the people with the lowest self-esteem had a large number of physiological indicators of anxiety. All of these findings suggest that self-esteem is an important factor in the well-being of individuals.

Since self-esteem appears to be so important to the well-being of an individual, it is of interest to determine possible factors affecting self-esteem. One theory is the self-attribution theory. "The self-attribution theory suggests that people evaluate themselves largely in terms of their own behavior or its outcomes" (Rosenberg, 1979). According to the self-attribution theory, achievement is an important factor in determining self-esteem in both children and adults. However, the concept of achievement differs somewhat between children and adults. For children, achievement can be equated with receiving good grades and having the respect of peers. Rosenberg found that "the relationship between school marks and academic self-concept is a consistently strong one" (1979). Rosenberg (1979) believed that being elected an officer of a school group was an indicator of having the respect of one's peers and found that "with one minor exception, each step down the self-esteem scale is matched by a decreasing proportion of group officers." "A person who ranks high in the status hierarchy would be expected to have high self-esteem" (Rosenberg, 1979). A person of this rank would believe that he is respected by his peers and that his success is "evidence of how good he is" (Rosenberg, 1979).

Another view takes the position that what influences self-esteem is different for each individual. A person's self-values are very important in determining how a person feels about himself. If a person values athleticism over attractiveness, then it is more important to him to be a good athlete than to be very attractive. His view of his own athleticism, then, is a more important factor in how he feels about himself than his view of his own attractiveness. One important thing to notice, however, is that "we are not completely free to choose our self-values" (Rosenberg, 1979). Many of our self-values are learned from our families at a very young age, and sometimes these values are not in our best interest. This becomes significant when such self-values are difficult to change, because it may affect how a person feels about himself. He may excel in one area, but if he fails to excel in the area which he values most, it may have a detrimental effect on his self-esteem. Also, some self-values stem "from the social role definitions and social group norms. At an early age the child learns what is right or wrong, important or unimportant, for him, and these ideas are internalized in his value system" (Rosenberg, 1979). A person will constantly be judged by his significant others, and so "he must seek to excel in terms of their values, not his own" (Rosenberg, 1979). Conflicts may arise between his self-values and the values of others, which may affect his self-esteem.

How a person feels about himself is also affected by how he thinks others view him. "It is the ‘perceived self' - what we think others think of us - that affects our self-attitudes" (Rosenberg, 1979). The views of significant others, those people important to the individual whose opinions he values, are the most important to the individual. "Symbolic interaction theory posits that children's feelings about themselves depend on their perceptions of how their parents view them. Similarly, phenomenological theory posits that children's self-perceptions are affected by the way significant others treat them" (Zervas and Sherman, 1994). Significant others vary among individuals, as it is a personal opinion whom one considers to be significant in one's life. For example, some individuals may greatly value the opinions of their classmates while others may not. Thus, "significance is in the eye of the beholder" (Rosenberg, 1979). However, it is reasonable to assume that one's parents fall into the category of significant others. A child's thoughts of how his parents view him can be a great influence on how he feels about himself. If he feels his parents are disappointed in him or are not concerned with him, then he may feel that he is a failure or not worthy of their attention. This could have a negative effect on his self-esteem.

Since parents are such significant figures in an individual's life, the parent-child relationship is of great importance when considering the effects significant others have on self-esteem. Several studies have been done on the parent-child relationship and how it affects the psychological well-being of a child. One of the most important components of the parent-child relationship is communication. Matteson (1974) conducted a study on adolescent self-esteem and family communication. She used the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory to narrow her subjects from 144 ninth graders to a group of subjects consisting of the ten males and ten females with the highest self-esteem and the ten males and ten females with the lowest self-esteem. This group was administered the Mother- and Father- Adolescent Communication Inventories, and their parents were administered the Parent-Adolescent Communication Inventory.

Matteson (1974) suggested that in parent-child relationships with poor communication, children "perceive their parents as being uninterested in them." She also suggested that children in such dysfunctional relationships "learn inadequate communication patterns from their parents" and that "such children learn to avoid interpersonal relationships" (1974). Matteson also noted that how a child views his communication with his parents is more important than "the parents' actually expressed thoughts and feelings regarding the child" (1974). If a child is dissatisfied with how his parents communicate with him, he will perceive their relationship as dysfunctional, regardless of how his parents might view it. Matteson's research supported her hypothesis that "adolescents with low self-esteem would perceive more dysfunction in the way their parents communicate with them than would adolescents with high self-esteem" (1974). This indicates that parent-child communication is an important factor affecting one's self-esteem. When a child communicates well with his parents, he is more likely to feel that he is appreciated and important to his parents. He will feel valued by them, and therefore would be more likely to value and appreciate himself.

McHale et al. (1995) conducted research on the differential treatment of siblings and its effects on children's well-being. They measured the differential treatment of siblings "using a rating scale procedure adapted from the Sibling Inventory of Differential Experiences" which asked parents to evaluate their "affection and discipline toward the first versus the secondborn child" (McHale et al, 1995). It was found that "differential treatment almost always took the form of favoritism toward the younger sibling" (McHale et al, 1995). Their findings indicated that "there may be some positive concomitants, particularly for younger children's well-being and ratings of their parent-child relationships, of being the favored child" (McHale et al, 1995).

Not only is it important for a child to feel that he is important in the eyes of his parents, it is also important that the child not feel that his parents favor another sibling over him. Zervas and Sherman (1994) found that "total self-esteem and two facets of self-esteem were related to parental favoritism." Again, it is not so much that the parents actually favor one sibling over another, but rather that it is perceived to be that way by the child. Freud believed that "being the favored child leads to self-confidence" (Zervas and Sherman, 1994). Parental favoritism however may work in both directions. For the favored child, there may be positive consequences, since he or she would feel that he or she is appreciated greatly by his or her parents. However, sibling rivalry caused by parental favoritism may negatively affect the favored child. In the case of the unfavored child, there is only a negative side. The child "may often feel inferior, angry, and depressed, as well as unattractive and incompetent" (Zervas and Sherman, 1994). This leads to the conclusion that parental favoritism affects how a child feels his parents view him, and therefore affects his self-esteem. "Studies have shown that parental support and acceptance, warmth, and democratic child-rearing practices foster high self-esteem in children" (Zervas and Sherman, 1994). In cases of parental favoritism, these factors are not present in the parent-child relationship, which indicates that parental favoritism can lead to low self-esteem, especially in the case of the unfavored child. Zervas and Sherman (1994) administered The Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory and a favoritism questionnaire to 91 college students. They found that "both the no-favoritism and the favored groups had significantly higher self-esteem than the nonfavored group" (Zervas and Sherman, 1994). When asked for a reason why a certain child was favored by their parents, 52% of the subjects selected birth order as one of the factors (26% said oldest, 26% said youngest). The fact that this percentage was split so evenly may be a reason why birth order studies have been contradictory or unclear.

The size of the family and the ordinal position of the child seems to have an effect on the parental attention received by the child. Falbo and Polit (1986) reviewed the research on only children, finding that their development is similar to that of firstborns and children from small families. They reviewed 115 studies concerning the development of only children. These studies included research on sibling relationships, birth order, and family size. They studied only children as compared to non-only children, and only children compared to groups defined by family size. Falbo and Polit (1986) found that "firstborns and children from small families ... have warmer relationships with their parents than laterborns and children from larger families." Firstborn children and children from small families tend to receive more individual attention from their parents than laterborns and those from large families.

Mellor's (1990) research concluded that "the developmental paths of only children are similar to the paths of firstborns and children from two-child families but dissimilar to paths of children from larger families." He administered the Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory, as well as questionnaires used to determine birth order and family size, to 434 students from 11 to 19 years old (Mellor, 1990). He found that "on the basis of developmental outcomes related to resolutions of developmental crises in childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood, the crucial outcome differences appear precisely between the only child, whether defined as only born or firstborn, and the later born child on the birth-order variable, and precisely between children from two-child families and three-child families on the family-size variable" (Mellor, 1990). This supports the idea that family size as well as birth order may be of importance when considering child development. It has also been suggested that "in large families, the youngest children receive less parental attention that the oldest children because parents transfer responsibility for caretaking to the older siblings" (Sputa and Paulson, 1995).

Mothers tend to be more affectionate and interact more with their firstborn children than their laterborns. This may be because new parents are overly anxious with their first child, or perhaps because when their second child is born they then have to devote time to both children. Studies have found that parents "pay more attention to the firstborn," talk and interact more with the firstborn, and are "more directive of the firstborn child" (Hilton, 1967). Hilton studied the mothers of 60 nursery school age children, half boys and half girls, of which 20 were only children, 20 were firstborns of two children, and 20 were secondborns of two children. The mothers of these children were unknowingly observed as Hilton administered a series of puzzles to the children. Hilton found that "mothers of firstborns were significantly more likely to make overt demonstrations of love than mothers of later borns" (1967). Jacobs and Moss (1976) found that "mothers spent significantly less time in social, affectionate, and caretaking interaction (except for feeding activities) with their secondborns than they had with their firstborns." Thirty-two mothers and their first and secondborn children were observed at the times when each of the children were three months old (Jacobs and Moss, 1976). This indicates that first-born children tend to receive more parental attention that later borns, and may consequently have a positive feeling about how their parents view them, which might lead to high self-esteem. It appears that laterborns do not receive as much attention as firstborns, and may perhaps feel as though they are not as appreciated as firstborns. This seems to indicate that later borns may have lower self-esteem than first borns and only children.

These studies indicate that birth order is a factor in parental attention. A firstborn or only child has no one to share the parental attention with for the first part of his life. A second born often feels inferior to the firstborn and has the attitude that he is "always trying to catch up with someone" (Greenberg, 1963). If there is a younger sibling, the situation may become worse. Not only might he feel he has to "catch up" to his older sibling, but his parents may pay more attention to the youngest sibling as compared to the middle child. The youngest child often is spoiled and is never "dethroned." He often has his parents to himself for some time after his siblings have moved out of the house. Although he does have to share the parental attention with his siblings for the most part, there is time where he does not have to share it quite so much. Since he is the "baby" of the family, he is often "relatively secure about being lavished with attention from the rest of the family" (Gates, et al., 1988).

Self-esteem has also been studied directly as a function of birth order. Gates et al. (1988) administered the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, and the Children's Depression Inventory to 404 children ages 7 to 12. They found that "first-born children showed significantly higher levels of self-esteem than second-born and youngest children" (1988). They also found that "first borns (in some comparisons) showed less depression, less anxiety, and higher self-esteem" than laterborns and only children (1988).

Greenberg et al. (1963) administered the California F scale, the Allport Study of Values, and the Gordon Personal Profile to 264 students ranging from in age from 18 to 62. They found that the firstborn children had the lowest self-esteem, which is consistent with Adler's theory (Greenberg et al., 1963). However, "the critical ratios between the oldest and only, and oldest and middle are not significant in most cases" (Greenberg et al., 1963.) A possible reason for the contradiction between this and the study conducted by Gates et al. is that Greenberg et al. used the Gordon Personal Profile, which does not directly measure self-esteem, but actually measures "ascendancy, responsibility, emotional stability, sociability, and total," which Greenberg et al. took to measure "self-esteem or self-love" (1963).

According to Lessing and Oberlander (1967) "first-borns reveal a healthier level of adjustment than later-borns on a self-report personality inventory." Lessing and Oberlander (1967) administered the California Test of Personality to 272 fifth-graders, 242 eighth-graders, and 341 eleventh-graders. Their study was "designed as a systematic, controlled exploration of the relationship between ordinal position and personality adjustment" (Lessing and Oberlander, 1967). They found that although " some significant sex differences emerged ... no significant interactions between sex and ordinal position were obtained" (Lessing and Oberlander, 1967). They also found that "in comparison with the later-borns, the first-borns presented a healthier picture of themselves" (Lessing and Oberlander, 1967). Also, Lessing and Oberlander (1967) found that "the importance of ordinal position per se was found to decline over grades, with an independent birth-order effect remaining after two covariance adjustments in grade five, after one in grade eight, but after none in grade eleven."

Rosenberg (1965) conducted extensive self-esteem research using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale used in the current study. He administered several questionnaires to 5,024 high school seniors and juniors in New York state. Rosenberg (1965) found that only children had higher self-esteem than children with siblings, although he found that male only children were more likely than female only children to have high self-esteem. He found that "the only girl has no general self-esteem advantage over girls with siblings" (Rosenberg, 1965). Rosenberg (1965) also conducted research regarding the gender distribution of siblings and found that boys in a family of mostly older sisters have unusually high self-esteem, while for girls, the sex distribution of siblings had very little importance. He found that "if the family consists mostly of boys, then, as far as self-esteem is concerned, it makes no difference whether the boy is among the earlier or the later born" (Rosenberg, 1965). Rosenberg (1965) did not look at self-esteem taking into account only gender differences, but in most of his analyses, boys tended to have a higher self-esteem than girls did.

Nystul (1974) also conducted research on the effects of birth order and sex on self-esteem. He administered the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale to 168 college students. He found that "birth order did not have a significant effect" on self-esteem. He did find, however, that girls "have higher self-concepts than males," "have a more positive feeling about their identity than males," and "have less basic personality defects and weaknesses and less of a tendency to avoid reality than males" (Nystul, 1974). This contradicts Rosenberg's research, which found males to be better adjusted than females and to have higher self-esteem (1965).

Since the results of birth order research tend to be contradictory, it is important to focus on the specific variables of each study. Perhaps different studies are measuring different aspects of self-esteem, or are looking too broadly at certain variables, such as birth order, family size, and gender. The present study chose to look at parental attention as it is related to birth order and to determine whether parental attention can be viewed as a mediator of birth order differences in self-esteem. Both Gates et al (1988) and Greenberg (1963) have found birth order differences in self-esteem, as did Rosenberg (1965) to some extent, although they are contradictory. The objective of the current study was to confirm birth order differences in self-esteem, as well as the relationship between parental attention and self-esteem, and to determine whether there was a relationship between the birth order differences and the parental attention differences in self-esteem. Prior research has found parental attention to be related to self-esteem, specifically by way of favoritism and communication (Matteson, 1974; McHale et al., 1995; Zervas an Sherman, 1994). The present study hypothesized that parental attention and self-esteem would be positively correlated. The hypothesis of this study was that only children would receive the most parental focus and attention, firstborns and lastborns the second most attention, and middleborns the least amount of parental attention. From this, it was hypothesized that only children generally would have the highest self-esteem, firstborns and lastborns the second highest, and middleborns the lowest. This has been supported by prior research (Mellor, 1990; Sputa and Paulson, 1995; Hilton, 1967; Jacobs and Moss, 1976) which found that firstborns and only borns tend to receive the most parental attention, although in a family with more than one child, the firstborn child will eventually have to share the attention. Also, research has found that in cases of perceived parental favoritism by birth order, the perceived favorite is either the oldest or the youngest child (Zervas, 1994). This seems to indicate that in families of more than two children where there is a favored child, the middle child is nearly always the unfavored child. Since there is evidence that the unfavored child has lower self-esteem than the favored child or nonfavored child (McHale et al., 1995; Zervas, 1994), this appears to support the hypothesis that middle children will have lower self-esteem than al other ordinal positions.

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Methods

Participants

The sample consisted of 98 students (37 males and 61 females) from a small liberal arts college in New York. Participants' ages ranged from 17 to 21, with the mean age being 19.03 years. Participants were categorized by birth order and family size: 8.2% were only children; 41.8% were firstborns; 18.4% were middleborns; and 31% were lastborns. By family size, 8.2% were only children, 43.9% were from two-child families, 42.9% were from medium-sized families (3 or 4 children), and 5.1% were from large families (5+ children). The racial/ethnic composition of the sample was not taken into account when analyzing the data because of the relatively small size of the sample. Participation in this study was voluntary, and the participants were not paid or otherwise compensated. Two of the participants did receive out-of-class credit for their psychology courses for participating in this study.

Materials

Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) was used to evaluate the self-esteem of the participants. The coefficient of reproducibility for this scale was reported to be 93%, and the coefficients of scalability (for items and individuals) for this scale were 73% and 72%, respectively (Rosenberg, 1965). The questionnaire consisted of ten statements to which the respondents were asked to select either "strongly agree", "agree", "disagree", or "strongly disagree". The ten statements were divided into six separate scale items. The scale ranged from 0-6, with 0 being the highest self-esteem and 6 being the lowest. A point was given for each of the scale items that had a "positive" response (low self-esteem was indicated by "positive" responses). Some of the statements the participants were asked to agree or disagree with were: "I feel that I'm a person of worth, at least on an equal plane with others"; "I feel I do not have much to be proud of"; "I take a positive attitude towards myself"; "I wish I could have more respect for myself"; and "At times I think I am no good at all." Positive and negative statements were presented alternatingly. (See Appendix A.)

Rosenberg's Parental Interest Index was used to determine the degree of parental interest as perceived by the participants. The questionnaire consisted of seven statements, with a "positive" response indicating lack of parental interest. The scale ranged from 0-7, with 0 indicating high parental interest and 7 indicating a lack of parental interest. The questions asked whether the participant's parents knew who his friends were at 10-11 years old, whether the participant's parents paid attention to his grades during the fifth and sixth grades, and how interested other family members were in what he had to say. (See Appendix A.)

A questionnaire was also administered which asked for the participant's sex, age, number of siblings, and sex and age of siblings. From this, family size and birth order for the participant could be determined. (See Appendix A.)

Procedure

The questionnaire was administered in co-ed underclassmen dormitories over the course of several evenings. The participants were given a brief description of the study and told the survey took approximately three to five minutes to complete. They were also informed that the study was completely confidential and that their names would not be associated with the study in any way. The subjects were asked to sign a consent form indicating that they understood the anonymity of the study and agreed to participate in the study.

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Results

The means and standard deviations for self-esteem and parental attention across birth order can be found in Table 1. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted with birth order as the independent variable and self-esteem and parental attention as the dependent variables. The ANOVA showed no significant differences in self-esteem among various birth order groups, F(3,94) = .414, p > .05. Similarly, there were no significant differences in parental attention among various birth order groups, F(3,94) = .280, p > .05.

Table 1
Means and Standard Deviations for Self-Esteem
and Parental Attention by Birth Order

Self-EsteemParental Attention
Birth OrderMeanSDMeanSD
only.7500.8864.5000.5345
firstborn1.39021.4121.6098.9455
middleborn1.2778.9583.83331.0981
lastborn1.30611.5019.6531.9959

In order to examine gender differences, t-tests were performed with self-esteem and parental attention as the dependent variables. It was found that males had significantly higher self-esteem than females, t(96) = -2.102, p , <.04. No significant differences were found between males and females in parental attention, t(96) = 1.224, p , >.05. The means and standard deviations for self-esteem and parental attention for each gender can be found in Table 2.

Table 2
Means and Standard Deviations for Self-Esteem
and Parental Attention by Gender

Self-EsteemParental Attention
SexMeanSDMeanSD
male.94591.0259.81081.1015
female1.52461.6991.5574.9224

For the sample as a whole, self-esteem was significantly correlated with parental attention, r = .26, p = .01. Family size was not correlated with self-esteem or parental attention.

Analysis was also done to determine any correlations between self-esteem, parental attention, and family size across each for males and females separately. For males, self-esteem and parental attention were marginally correlated, r = .31, p < .10. For females, the correlation between self-esteem and parental attention was significant, r = .31, p < .02. Family size was not correlated with self-esteem or parental attention for either gender.

Analysis was also done to determine if self-esteem was correlated with parental attention within different birth orders. When both genders were combined, there were no significant correlations between self-esteem and parental attention for firstborns, r = .08, p > .05, and middleborns, r = .05, p >.05. There was a significant correlation for lastborns, r = .52, p < .005. Analysis was then done to determine if self-esteem was correlated with parental attention within the birth orders for each gender separately. For females, there were no significant correlations between parental attention and self-esteem for firstborns, r = .05, p > .05, and secondborns, r = -.135, p > .05. There was a significant correlation for lastborn females, r = .60, p <.01. For males, there were no significant correlations between self-esteem and parental attention for firstborns, r = .23, p > .05, middleborns, r = .13, p > .05, or lastborns, r = -.302, p > .05.

Two ANOVAs were conducted with birth order as the independent variable and self-esteem and parental attention as the dependent variables for each gender separately. For the males, the only children were combined with the firstborns as there were only three male only children. There was a significant difference in self-esteem among birth order groups for males, F(2,34) = 4.92, p < .02. Post-hoc tests showed that lastborn males had higher self-esteem than firstborn or middleborn males. There was no significant difference in parental attention among these groups, F(2,34) = 1.47, p > .05. The means and standard deviations for self-esteem and parental attention across birth order for males can be found in Table 3.

Table 3
Means and Standard Deviations for Self-Esteem
and Parental Attention by Birth Order for Males

Self-EsteemParental Attention
Birth OrderMeanSDMeanSD
firstborn (w/only)1.13641.0821.86361.0821
middleborn1.6000.89441.40001.6733
lastborn.2000.4216.4000.6992

For females, there were no significant differences in self-esteem among birth order groups, F(3,57) = .855, p > .05, or in parental attention among the birth order groups, F(3,57) = .852, p > .05. The means and standard deviations for self-esteem and parental attention across birth order for females can be found in Table 4.

Table 4
Means and Standard Deviations for Self-Esteem
and Parental Attention by Birth Order for Females

Self-EsteemParental Attention
Birth OrderMeanSDMeanSD
only.80001.0954.6000.5477
firstborn 1.54551.6250.3182.6463
middleborn1.1538.98716154.7679
lastborn1.90482.1658.76191.2611

Further analyses were conducted on just the participants from two children families (N=43). Two ANOVAs were conducted with sibling configuration as the independent variable and self-esteem and parental attention as the dependent variables. The sibling configuration variable consisted of oldest child, youngest child with older sibling of the same sex, and youngest child with older sibling of the opposite sex. No significant difference was found in self-esteem among the sibling configuration groups, F(2,40) = .920, p > .05. Also, there was no significant difference in parental attention among the sibling configuration groups, F(2,40) = 2.174, p > .05.

Similar ANOVAs were conducted by gender. For males, there was a significant difference in self-esteem among sibling configuration groups, F(2,17) = 5.431, p < .02, with firstborn males having lower self-esteem than the other two groups. There was no significant difference in parental attention among sibling configuration groups for males, F(2,17) = 1.775, p > .05. For females, there was no significant difference in self-esteem among sibling configuration groups, F(2,20) = .101, p > .05, however, there was a trend toward significant differences in parental attention among sibling configuration groups, F (2,20), p < .10. The mean difference in parental attention between younger girls with the same sex sibling and younger girls with the opposite sex sibling was significant at the .05 level, with females having a male older sibling having higher self-esteem.

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Discussion

The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of parental attention and birth order on self-esteem. It was hypothesized that only children receive the most parental attention, firstborns and lastborns receive the second most attention, and middleborns receive the least amount of attention, and so it followed that only children would have the highest self-esteem, first and lastborns would have the second highest self-esteem, and middleborns would have the lowest self-esteem. This hypothesis was generally unsupported. It was also expected that parental attention and self-esteem would be positively correlated. This was generally supported, although was moderated by gender and birth order.

This study found that there were no overall differences in self-esteem or parental attention by birth order. This is contradictory to previous research which has found birth order differences in self-esteem (Gates et al., 1988; Greenberg et al., 1963; Lessing and Oberlander, 1967; Rosenberg, 1965) and birth order differences in parental attention (Jacobs and Moss, 1976; Hilton, 1967). Gates et al (1998) and Lessing and Oberlander (1967) both found firstborns to have the highest self-esteem (excluding only children), Rosenberg (1965) found only children to have the highest self-esteem, and Greenberg et al. (1963) found firstborns to have the lowest self-esteem. A possible reason for the results in the current study is that the scale used measured global self-esteem, and birth order may have the greatest affect on one aspect of self-esteem, "the self-esteem that is connected to home-parent relationships, rather than global or total self-esteem" (Zervas and Sherman, 1994). However, the studies above which confirmed birth order differences in self-esteem did not claim to look specifically at one aspect of self-esteem. This study did find birth order to be a complex factor in one's self-esteem and in the amount of parental attention one receives when considering each gender separately.

Significant differences were found in self-esteem among the two gender groups. In general, males were found to have higher self-esteem than females. Rosenberg's (1965) research also suggested that males had higher self-esteem than females. He suggested that this may be because "society treats women as inferior and incompetent, and that women internalize these social definition of their worth and tend to develop feelings of inferiority" (Rosenberg, 1979). No significant differences were found in parental attention among the two gender groups, suggesting that the difference in self-esteem among genders was not related to parental attention.

Although the general hypothesis was not supported, when the data were analyzed separately by gender it was found that some significant differences appeared. The correlation of parental attention and self-esteem depended on gender and birth order, and was especially strong for lastborn females. When just birth order was considered, the correlation of parental attention and self-esteem was only present for lastborns. Therefore, birth order can be considered a moderator in the correlation of parental attention and self-esteem. However, gender also played a significant role when considering the correlation of parental attention and self-esteem, so this correlation was actually moderated by both birth order and gender.

A significant difference in self-esteem among birth order groups was found for males, but not in parental attention. The lastborn males had significantly higher self-esteem than firstborn (including only children) and middleborn males. This was somewhat supported by Rosenberg's (1965) research, which found that lastborn boys with older sisters had very high self-esteem. Jacobs and Moss (1976) found that "virtually no decrease occurs in maternal attention for males who had firstborn sisters." This study found that lastborn males had the highest self-esteem, regardless of the gender distribution of their siblings. No significant difference in self-esteem or parental attention among birth order was found for females. This was also supported by Rosenberg (1965) who found that neither birth order nor sibling configuration were related to the self-esteem in females.

Analysis was also conducted to determine any correlations between self-esteem, parental attention, birth order, and family size. Parental attention and self-esteem were correlated for the whole sample. This analysis was also conducted for males and females separately. For males, there was a trend toward a correlation between self-esteem and parental attention. A correlation was found for females between self-esteem and parental attention. This supports the hypothesis that self-esteem is related to parental attention, as confirmed by Matteson (1974), McHale et al. (1995), and Zervas and Sherman (1994). Family size was not related to self-esteem or parental attention for the whole group, or for either gender. An explanation of this finding may be that most of the participants were from families of 1-4 children, and so the sample of participants from large families may have been too small to find significant results when considering family size as a variable.

A correlation was found between parental attention and self-esteem for the lastborns of the whole sample. No such correlations were found for firstborns or middleborns. This analysis was also broken down by gender, and it was found that a correlation existed between self-esteem and parental attention only for lastborn females. Since it was found that this correlation existed for the lastborns of the entire sample, this seems to indicate that the correlation was extremely strong for lastborn girls. This suggests that parental attention appeared to be strongly related to the self-esteem of lastborn girls, which also supports the hypothesis that self-esteem is related to parental attention. These findings agree with those of Matteson (1974), McHale et al. (1995), and Zervas and Sherman (1994). A possible explanation for the importance of parental attention to the self-esteem of lastborn girls may be that lastborn girls generally feel inferior to their older siblings. If they perceive their parents as not paying attention to them, this may reinforce these feelings of inferiority. In two-child families, lastborn girls with an older sibling of the same sex received the least amount of parental attention when compared to other females from two-child families. This agree with the findings of Jacobs and Moss (1976), who found that "the decrement in maternal treatment toward second borns was greatest for females with older sisters and next greatest for females with older brothers."

Analysis was also done taking into consideration sibling configuration. Rosenberg's (1965) research indicated that the sibling constellation was also a factor in parental attention and self-esteem. The current study analyzed the sibling configuration of two-child families and whether self-esteem and parental attention varied across this variable. For this study, the sibling configuration variable consisted of three levels, oldest child, youngest child with an older sibling of the same gender, and youngest child with an older sibling of the opposite gender. No significant differences were found when considering both males and females together, but for males only, there was a significant difference in self-esteem among sibling configuration groups. The lastborn males in two- child families had significantly higher self-esteem than did firstborn males in two-child families, regardless of the gender of their older sibling. This again supports the finding that birth order is a factor influencing self-esteem in lastborn males. There was no such significant difference in self-esteem among sibling configuration groups for females. However, there was a trend toward significant differences in parental attention among sibling configuration groups for females. The lastborn girls with a same sex sibling in two-child families received significantly less parental attention than lastborn girls with an opposite sex sibling. This also supports the finding that parental attention is a factor affecting self-esteem in lastborn females.

Interestingly, it appears that birth order does have somewhat of an effect on the self-esteem of males, but has no effect on females. Parental attention is not related to the self-esteem of males, but for lastborn females, there is a strong correlation. A possible explanation for this is that females may be brought up to desire the attention and affection of their parents more than males are. It is more acceptable for females to become emotionally attached, and so they may be reinforced to become emotionally attached to their parents. Rosenberg (1979) found that girls gave the characteristic of being well-liked top-priority, which supports this idea. The lastborns seemed to be the only group in the sample for which significant differences and correlations were found. A possible reason for this is that the self-esteems of other groups' may be affected more strongly by other factors, such as achievement. Sputa and Paulson (1995) reported that "parent showed higher behavior- and achievement-oriented expectations and aspirations for their firstborns." Also, secondborns "were more likely to perceive their mothers as more demanding, more responsive, and more involved in school work" than other birth order groups (Sputa and Paulson, 1995). These findings suggest that achievement may be an important factor in the self-esteem of only children, firstborns, and middleborns. The hypothesis that parental attention is a mediator for the birth order differences in self-esteem was not supported, except in lastborn girls. However, birth order and gender were found to be moderators in the correlation between parental attention and self-esteem.

There were several limitations on the study which may have affected the results. The scale used to measure self-esteem measured global self-esteem, rather than specific aspects of self-esteem. Results that supported the hypothesis may have been found if the scale used had looked specifically at self-esteem as it is related to the family or home, such as the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory used by Zervas and Sherman (1994). This scale measures self-esteem in "four specific areas: general, social, school-academic, and home-parent" (Zervas and Sherman, 1994). Zervas and Sherman (1994) reviewed other studies which had found no "differences in general self-esteem between favored and nonfavored children," and hypothesized that such differences would be found considering the home-parent facet of self-esteem. The questionnaire was also administered at a college, where many of the students have not been at home or with their families for quite some time. Their feelings toward themselves, their parents, and their siblings may be different when they spend more time around them. The college setting is very different from a home setting, which may have been the aspect of self-esteem most affected by parental attention and birth order. Also, the parental attention questionnaire used was very short and focused on the time period of when the participant was in the fifth and sixth grades. Perhaps a more extensive parental attention questionnaire would have provided different results. Also, the sample consisted of only 98 participants, and when divided into subgroups, there may not have been enough participants to get an accurate account of the self-esteem and parental attention variables. The students attending the college also tend to come from similar backgrounds with similar values. A more diverse sample may have generated different results.

The findings that the self-esteem of males tended to be the most affected by birth order and the self-esteem of females tended to be the most affected by parental attention is certainly interesting. This was especially true for the lastborns in each of these genders. Further research on the self-esteem of lastborns should perhaps look into these differences. Also, this suggests that the factors affecting self-esteem may differ by gender. While this study did not produce the expected results, it did produce some interesting findings which may be suggestions for future research in self-esteem.

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References

Gates, L., Lineberger, M.R., Crockett, J., & Hubbard, J. (1988). Birth order and its relationship to depression, anxiety, and self-concept test scores in children. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 149(1), 29-34.

Greenberg, H., Guerino, R., Lashen, M., Mayer, D., & Pikowski, D. (1963). Order of birth as a determinant of personality and attitudinal characteristics. The Journal of Social Psychology, 60, 221-30.

Hilton, I. (1967). Differences in the behavior of mothers toward first- and later-born children. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 7(3), 282-90.

Jacobs, B.S. & Moss, H.A. (1976). Birth order and sex of sibling as determinants of mother-infant interaction. Child Development, 47(2), 315-22.

Lessing, E.W. & Oberlander, M. (1967). Developmental study of ordinal posiion and personality adjustment of the child as evaluated by the California Test of Personality. Journal of Personality, 35(3), 487-97.

Matteson, R. (1974). Adolescent self-esteem, family communication, and marital satisfaction. The Journal of Psychology, 86(1), 35-47.

McHale, S.M., Crouter, A.C., McGuire, S.A., & Updegraff, K.A. (1995). Congruence between mothers' and fathers' differential treatment of siblings: links with family relations and children' well-being. Child Development, 66(1), 116-28.

Mellor, S. (1990). How do only children difer from other children? The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 151(2), 221-30.

Nystul, M.S. (1995). Response to Sputa and Paulson's "Birth order and family size: influences on adolescents' achievement and related parenting behaviors". Psychological Reports, 76, 1241-2.

Nystul, M.S. (1974). The effects of birth order and sex on self-concept. Journal of Individual Psychology, 30, 211-5.

Rosenberg, M. (1979). Conceiving the Self. New York: Basic Books, Inc., Publishers.

Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the Adolescent Self-Image. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Sputa, C.L. & Paulson, S.E. (1995). Birth order and family size: influences on adolescents' achievement and related parenting behaviors. Psychological Reports, 76(1), 43-51.

Wylie, R.C. (1961). The Self Concept. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press.

Zervas, L.J. & Sherman, M.F. (1994). The relationship between perceived parental favoritism and self-esteem. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 155(10), 25-33.

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Appendix A

 Please answer the following questions to the best of your ability. Feel free to ask me any questions you might have about the survey. If you feel uncomfortable about answering any of the questions, you may leave them blank, but please answer all that you can. You may stop participating in this survey at any time

Part I

1. I feel that I am a person of worth, at least on an equal plane with others.
1___ Strongly Agree2___ Agree3___ Disagree4___ Strongly Disagree


2. I feel I do not have much to be proud of.
1___ Strongly Agree2___ Agree3___ Disagree4___ Strongly Disagree


3. On the whole, I am satisfied with myself.
1___ Strongly Agree2___ Agree3___ Disagree4___ Strongly Disagree


4. I wish I could have more respect for myself.
1___ Strongly Agree2___ Agree3___ Disagree4___ Strongly Disagree


5. I feel that I have a number of good qualities.
1___ Strongly Agree2___ Agree3___ Disagree4___ Strongly Disagree


6. I certainly feel useless at times.
1___ Strongly Agree2___ Agree3___ Disagree4___ Strongly Disagree


7. I take a positive attitude toward myself.
1___ Strongly Agree2___ Agree3___ Disagree4___ Strongly Disagree


8. All in all, I am inclined to feel that I am a failure.
1___ Strongly Agree2___ Agree3___ Disagree4___ Strongly Disagree


9. I am able to do things as well as most other people.
1___ Strongly Agree2___ Agree3___ Disagree4___ Strongly Disagree


10. At times I think I am no good at all.
1___ Strongly Agree2___ Agree3___ Disagree4___ Strongly Disagree




Part II

I would like you to think back to a specific period of your childhood, namely, when you were in the 5th and 6th grades. For most children this would be about the age of 10 or 11. Try to keep this period generally in mind when answering the following questions. Although your feelings and experiences may have varied, try to answer the questions in terms of your average or typical experiences at this time.

1. When you were about 10-11 years old, did your mother know most of your friends?
1____ Knew who all were2____ Knew who most were3____ Knew who some were4____ Knew none, almost none


2. During this period, did your father know who your friends were?
1____ Knew who all were2____ Knew who most were3____ Knew who some were4____ Knew none, almost none


For questions 3-6, please place a check in the space provided if the statement is correct:

3. When you were in 5th/6th grades, mother usually paid no attention when you brought home report card with high grades: ____

4. When you were in 5th/6th grades, father usually paid no attention when you brought home report card with high grades: ____

5. When you were in 5th/6th grades, mother usually paid no attention when you brought home report card with low grades: ____

6. When you were in 5th/6th grades, father usually paid no attention when you brought home report card with low grades: ____

7. As far as you can tell, how interested were other family members in what you had to say?
1____ Very interested2____ Fairly interested3____ Not interested


Part III (circle one)
1. Your Sex: malefemale


2. Your Age: _______

3. Number of children in your family, counting you (circle one):
1234567other________
4. Age and sex of siblings:Age:______Sex: ______
Age: ______Sex: ______
Age: ______Sex: ______
Age: ______Sex: ______
Age: ______Sex: ______
Age: ______Sex: ______
Age: ______Sex: ______


5. If you feel that the above questions do not fully describe any sibling relationship you may have (e.g., stepsiblings or half-siblings) please feel free to elaborate in a few short sentences.