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Associations between Birth Order and Personality Traits: Evidence from Self-Reports and Observer Ratings,☆☆

https://doi.org/10.1006/jrpe.1998.2233Get rights and content

Abstract

Sulloway (1996) proposed that personality traits developed in childhood mediate the association of birth order with scientific radicalism. Birth-order effects on traits within the five-factor model of personality were examined in three studies. Self-reports on brief measures of Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness in a national sample (N= 9664) were unrelated to birth order. Self-reports on the 30 facet scales of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) in an adult sample (N= 612) showed only small effects for Altruism and Tender-Mindedness. Peer ratings (N= 166) supported the hypotheses that laterborn children would be higher in facets of Openness and Agreeableness, but spouse ratings (N= 88) did not replicate those findings. Birth order may have subtle effects on perceived personality, but it is unlikely that this effect mediates associations with scientific radicalism.

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      Citation Excerpt :

      However, given our lack of observer-reports of personality, we cannot speak to those effect sizes. Some previous studies (e.g., Jefferson, Herbst, & McCrae, 1998) reported differences in the strength of association between birth order and personality when using peer- and spouse-ratings, as opposed to self-reports. Specifically, Jefferson et al. (1998) found larger effects for peer-ratings.

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    We thank Frank Sulloway, Delroy Paulhus, Suzanne Phillips, and Judith Rich Harris for helpful comments. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Epidemiologic Follow-Up Study was jointly initiated by the National Institute on Aging and the National Center for Health Statistics and has been developed and funded by the National Institute on Aging; the National Center for Health Statistics; the National Cancer Institute; the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; the National Institute of Arthritis, Diabetes, and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; the National Institute of Mental Health; the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; and the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke.

    Tyrone Jefferson, Jr., is now at Morgan State University. Correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed to Robert R. McCrae, Box 3, Gerontology Research Center, 5600 Nathan Shock Drive, Baltimore, MD 21224-6825. E-mail:[email protected].

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    D. C. FunderR. D. ParkeC. Tomlinson-KeaseyK. Widaman

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