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Related Experiment Videos

Sibship size, birth order, and personality.

Ahmed Abdel-Khalek1, David Lester

  • 1Department of Psychology, College of Social Sciences, Kuwait University, P.O. Box 68168 Kaifan, Code No. 71962, Kuwait.

Psychological Reports
|December 14, 2005
PubMed
Summary

Only death obsession scores correlated with birth order and family size in a study of 273 American college students. Other personality traits like anxiety or optimism showed no such links.

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Personality Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology

Background:

  • Birth order and sibship size are demographic factors that may influence personality development.
  • Previous research has explored links between family structure and various psychological traits.
  • The specific relationship between these demographic factors and a wider range of personality constructs requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between sibship size and birth order with a spectrum of personality traits in American college students.
  • To determine if demographic factors like family size and birth order uniquely correlate with specific personality dimensions.
  • To identify which personality facets, if any, are significantly predicted by birth order and sibship size.

Main Methods:

  • A sample of 273 American college students participated in the study.
  • Participants completed seven distinct personality assessments.
  • Statistical analyses were performed to examine correlations between demographic variables (sibship size, birth order) and personality scores.

Main Results:

  • Death obsession scores demonstrated a consistent association with both sibship size and birth order.
  • No significant associations were found between sibship size/birth order and optimism, pessimism, anxiety, Taoist orientation, suicidal ideation, or obsessive-compulsive tendencies.
  • The findings suggest a specific link between family structure demographics and death obsession.

Conclusions:

  • Birth order and sibship size appear to be uniquely associated with death obsession in the studied college student population.
  • These demographic factors do not show a consistent relationship with other examined personality traits, including anxiety and optimism.
  • Further research is warranted to explore the mechanisms underlying the connection between family structure and death obsession.

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