European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 23, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 the stars and stripes daily Magazine key to child envelopment spacing of births in a family by Daniel Goleman new York times scientific interest in the effects of birth order on later an interest that has fallen in and out of Vogue several times in the last few seems to be coming Back again with a Early findings showed that firstborn and Only Chil Dren had a higher proportion of successes in later life and that they tended to have higher is than late born children firstborn and Only children were also shown to be overrepresented in such groups As those listed in who astronauts and students in Grad uate and professional critics have maintained that the birth order effect has been exaggerated and is More ephemeral than its supporters the new inquiries tend to affirm much of the earlier but they also significantly modify those for some data show that the amount of time Between births in a family has perhaps As much to do with the development of a child As does that Childs place in the order of testifying to the new ferment in this Field were the papers presented at the annual meeting of the american association for the advancement of science in los each addressing a Small piece of this Large area of one report was delivered by Judith a professor of population in the department of Public health and sociology at the University of California at los an she found that an Only child is Likely to get three years More schooling than a child from a family of and thus was Likely to find greater Success in later she said that this was Only partly because of financial she found that Many of the later oms drop out of High school without families with two for have a proportion of High school graduates about twice that of families with seven or More in a related paper Given at the meeting it was predicted that american childrens performance on such tests of intellectual achievement As the Scholastic aptitude test should Rise significantly for the rest of this and then gradually decline the put Forward by Robert a psychologist at the University of in that the greater the number of children in a family and the Shorter the time Between their the lower will be the Intelli gence of the particularly those born because of the trend toward smaller american families in the 1960s and Zajonc predicts that the Rise in sat scores that began in 1980 will continue for about 18 More but a More recent trend toward larger families would begin to lower the scores around the turn of the Zajonc report pointed to an area of investigation that has been Given increasing weight in recent it focuses on the lifelong consequences of the spacing Between children in a the research suggests that there Are advantages to spacing children within a year or so of each other on the one or five years or More apart on the instead of the More popular Toto three year there were marked in the interpretations of Blake the advantages of coming from a Small family Are Gigantic by that i mean two or three Zajonc i would not advocate any pattern of spacing or children because Many other factors Are completely although most studies have failed to take it into the spacing Between the births of children can override Many psychological effects from the Childs birth according to research by Jeannie a psychologist at the University of in a National Survey of More than teenage for Kidwell found that children had a More negative View of themselves and their parents when their closest siblings were around two years if the space Between siblings is under one year or Over four the negativity for children born within about a year of each the older child does not seem to experience a dethrone ment from being the parents sole according to such children seem to feel that they have always had to share their parents time with a sibling with almost identical and so they do not feel the intense resentment toward the younger sibling that firstborn often if the firstborn has reached the age of 2 by the time the younger child is those feelings of resentment Are More Likely to research at Colorado state for has found that for having a younger sibling born two or More years later dealt the older child a blow to its while having a sibling born less the amount of time Between births in a family has perhaps As much to do with the development of a child As does that Childs place in the order of than two years later did not have that the Colorado group proposes that this May be so because a child raised alone is privy to All his Nur Turance and the longer a child has to get used to this the More negatively he will experience the birth of a younger How if the child has reached the beginnings of Independence at the age of 5 or the birth of a younger sibling no longer seems to have the same psychological observational studies of mothers and infants have found that if four years or More have passed since the birth of the last a Mother is More Likely to treat a new infant with the special care and attention she lavished on her children born about two years Kidwell Points Are Likely to have the most intense Competition for parental attention throughout their spacing of about five years is apparently opt Kidwell it frees the Parent from having to meet the demands and pressures of two children close together in thus allowing parents and children More time in on Toone interaction for a More support Ive and relaxed the importance of spacing can be seen in findings on the self esteem of a group that has also been neglected in the research on birth Kidwell has found at least in children who fall in the Middle ranks of three or More siblings tend to have poorer self esteem than do both their older and younger in Kidwell the Middleborn believes his parents Are More punitive and less Loving toward him than to his older and younger it is not that parents actually behave that Way to Ward their Middle in kid welts but that circumstances particularly the intensity of Competition Between siblings and the Strain on parents to meet the demands of several children tend to make those children perceive that to be the these feelings in Middleborn Are she when the spacing Between siblings is about two or three when the spacing is greater than four years or less than two the effect is often disappearing the Middleborn feelings of self esteem also vary with the sex of the for having a brother makes the lowered self esteem while having Sis ters seems to have a positive Kidwell proposes that this is because the feeling of being special enhances self esteem in and so being the Only male qualifies the child As being unique and How similar Are Only children and firstborn the new research focuses on some significant ways in which they the idea that there should be such a difference dates Back to the ideas of the psychiatrist Alfred Adler in the Early decades of the according to adlerian the As an Only feels in a privileged position by virtue of being the sole focus of parental with the birth of a younger the older child is deprived of that direct observations of mothers and their have found that the Small drama of dethrone ment of the firstborn perhaps the with the birth of the second there is a drop in the amount of time the Mother talks with and plays with Thor first and an increase in the frequency of her setting limits and disciplining the firstborn in becomes More demand ing and negative toward the and has More such As in eating and since an Only child does not experience this dethrone ment or the other experiences that having a sibling brings there Are Clear psychological differences Between them and children who have a according to findings reported in the single child there is no real evidence that Only children Are at a psychological despite the stereotypes to the according to Toni a psychologist at the University of who edited the in a review of More than 200 studies Falbo found that the evidence strongly suggests that Only in comparison to those raised with one or More tend to be More intelligent in show More autonomy and psychological maturity by College and attain higher incomes and More occupational pres Tige in other is revealing some less positive commonalities Between Only children and the youngest in Large one theory that such children Are reared in a More permissive fashion than others has been indirectly supported by a study of Alco Holics by James a psychologist at Wesleyan in a study of adult alcoholics and nonalcoholic Conley found that there were disproportionate numbers of Only children and last Borns from Large families among the and that their upbringing seemed particularly in conveys the increased susceptibility to alcoholism among these groups May be due to the traits of dependence and impulsivity that a permissive upbringing who has done several Large studies of the effects of birth has also proposed an though highly explanation for the Superior achievement of firstborn and Only in his View it is related to a biological difference found in primates and other which suggests that the firstborn is prepared by nature for a More difficult birth and a less experienced Mother than Are subsequent the uterus puts much greater pressure on a first Borns head than it does on according to and first deliveries on almost twice As Long As later there is evidence that the firstborn develops in a different biochemical Environ ment than do and after they Are the firstborn of most primate species scream louder and More often than do and theres a Good reason even among rodents and mothers take longer to respond to their firstborn than to their later