Search

This paper examines the effect of birth order on educational attainment in the United States and the underlying mechanism producing these effects. Using a family fixed effects model, we find negative birth order effects on educational outcomes. However, this effect varies depending on the household's income, being the strongest for households with the highest income and diminishing as households' income decreases. In addition, we show that the timing of income across childhood is important for completed education, as the largest gap in educational attainment between siblings emerges between those who were born and spent their early childhood in wealthier households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies on the determinants of entrepreneurship have shown that later-born children are more likely to become entrepreneurs. However, research has not addressed the questions of how birth order influences entrepreneurship. Based on the Chinese context, we propose two competing hypotheses to explore the potential mechanisms (risk taking vs. educational attainment) that explain the effect of birth order on entrepreneurship. We further argue that the effect of birth order on entrepreneurship is moderated by birth spacing and family financial status. Using data from the 2008 and 2013 Chinese Household Income Project, we find that in the case of China the impacts of birth order on two types of entrepreneurship (i.e. solo entrepreneurship and employer entrepreneurship) are overall positive, which implies that the risk-taking mechanism is more dominant than the educational attainment mechanism. Birth order shows a more pronounced impact for solo entrepreneurship but a weak impact for employer entrepreneurship. We also find that the positive birth-order effect on entrepreneurship is more evident in families with low financial status. Overall, this paper casts light on how birth order shapes the propensity for entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major issue in the construction of a database is what data to collect about customers in order to maximise targeting efficiency. The paper examines a variable hitherto neglected by marketers but which has been shown in psychology literature to have significant influence on a wide variety of adult behaviour, including fighter pilot effectiveness. There is evidence that birth order shapes personality, in particular what Sulloway refers to as the 'Big Five' personality dimension. This paper reviews the psychology literature, discusses the potential implications for marketers, in particular database marketing, and reports on two studies (including a nationally representative sample of 967 adults) that support the hypothesis that first-borns show a greater need than later-borns to talk to others before and/or after a high involvement purchase. The implications for methods of direct marketing communication and communication content are noted. The simplicity of collecting birth order data, coupled with the ability of neural networks software to process many customer variables, e.g. demographic and transactional, in order to optimise targeting efficiency, makes ordinal birth position a prime candidate for inclusion on consumer databases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of birth order on educational attainment in Lesotho. Using family fixed effects models, I find robust negative birth order effects on educational attainment. These results are in sharp contrast with the evidence from many developing countries, but are consistent with that from developed countries. Further, these birth order effects are pronounced in large families, and families with first-born girls, which suggests presence of girls' education bias. Turning to potential pathways of these effects, I find that they are not propagated through family wealth, but mainly through birth-spacing. These results are robust to different sample restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between birth order and educational attainment measured at ages 7, 11, 16, and 23, with particular care taken to separate the effects of birth order from the effects of family size. Since eldest children benefit from their parents' undivided resources at an early age, theory predicts that they may do better educationally than later-born children. This is confirmed by the analysis in this paper, with eldest children performing significantly better than other children on almost all measures of attainment. Youngest children in large families perform less well than middle children, and this effect increases with the age of the child. These findings are robust to the inclusion of a large set of background controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hungarian Case-Control Surveillance of Congenital Abnormalities (HCCSCA) is one of the largest case-control data sets of CA-surveillance in the world. We unified all data collected in the HCCSCA between 1980 and 2009 into a new, validated single database that is now open for examination. The details of this unified database are given in this paper. The total number of cases and control newborns is 32,345 and 57,231, respectively. The overall prevalence of CAs recorded in the HCCSCA was 10.7/1000 live-births. Data available for each pregnancy are: CA(s), gender, birth year/month/date, birth weight, gestational age, area of mother's living, maternal age, paternal age, birth order, mother's and father's qualification, employment status and type of employment, mother's marital status, outcome of previous pregnancies, maternal diseases during pregnancy (according to pregnancy months), drug intake during pregnancy (according to pregnancy months), folic acid and/or pregnancy vitamin supplement intake (according to pregnancy months), mother's smoking habits and alcohol consumption patterns. The most frequent anomalies detected were ventricular septal defect (2864), atrial septal defect (1895), polydactyly (1499), hypospadias (1083), and unilateral cleft lip ± palate (961). According to ICD-10, 701 diseases have been found to affect case mothers during pregnancy. Eight hundred and sixteen drugs were identified that had been taken by mothers during pregnancy. The authors are absolutely open for any scientific cooperation based on this database. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using unique panel data from Young Lives study conducted in undivided Andhra Pradesh, India, this mixed-method paper analyses gender differentials in completion of secondary education. Results show biased secondary school completion rates in favor of boys. Probit regression results highlight certain variables such as mothers’ education, wealth, high self-efficacy, early reading skills, lower birth order, and not engaging in more than two hours of domestic work and paid work at age 12, as positively associated with educational outcomes for girls. Decomposition analysis highlights that engaging in domestic chores at age 12 is the most contributory factor (36%) for the persisting gender gap. The other unexplained contributory factors may well be existing discriminatory social norms and son preference, which is captured by the qualitative case studies. The findings suggest that unless we are able to address persisting gender norms, universalizing secondary education with gender equity, will remain a distant dream. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyzes the socio-economic correlates of multiple child deprivations in Kenya using the 1993–2014 KDHS. Conventionally, child well-being is examined from the perspective of income poverty. However, numerous studies have argued that income is just one of the defining characteristics of poverty. Furthermore, examining child well-being only through monetary lens risk leaving behind millions of children because children are not economic agents. Despite global recognition of the importance of having a comprehensive measure of child well-being, there is a dearth of literature on multiple child deprivations. This study utilized data on seven child-specific dimensions of well-being. First, we counted the number of dimensions each child was deprived and then ranked them from those who were not deprived to those who are deprived in four or more dimensions. Second, we examined the distribution of multiple child deprivations by various characteristics. Finally, we investigated factors associated with multiple child deprivations using an ordered logit regression model. The results reveal that rural children, male children and children living in households without access to electricity and under female headship, on average, suffer higher incidence of multiple deprivations than their counterparts. Children with higher birth orders, twins and from rural residence had higher probability of suffering multiple deprivations while higher maternal education, employment of the respondent were associated with lower chances of a child suffering multiple deprivations. The findings of the study suggest the need for integrated policies targeting multiple forms of deprivation and strategies to ensure access to public services in remote areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shopping lists are regularly used by most U.S. consumers when they visit supermarkets. Having a list tends to influence shopper behaviors. Industry surveys suggest that demographics can predict who uses lists. However, these conclusions were usually based on simple correlations. Few academic studies, and none in more than 20 years, have used multivariate analysis to profile frequent shopping list users with both demographics and attitude measures. The industry and existing academic studies did not provide a complete profile of list users. Six studies, four store intercept surveys in rural U.S. communities (N = 965) and two national internet panel surveys (N = 1328), were used to test relationships between demographic and attitude measures and list use. None of the demographics were consistently associated with list use. Privacy concerns and impulsivity were important, while region, environmental attitudes, and a proxy measure for risk preferences (birth order) were not consistently significant. The resulting profile may help manufacturers, retailers, and educators better understand this behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of birth order on financial decision-making. In lieu of explanations such as dissimilar parental style across children with different birth orders (due to learning and experience) or the existence of sibling externalities commonly offered in the literature to explain the impact of birth order on financial decision-making, our key conjecture is that birth order influences a host of personality traits, including risk-taking behaviour, and thus financial decisions. Indeed, we find that only born males tolerate greater financial risks and exhibit higher propensity to participate in the stock market. Irrespective of their birth order, only born individuals are 4.7–13.7% more likely to participate in the stock market. Furthermore, we also find that only born males demonstrate more activity in the financial market (higher tendencies to trade assets). Collectively, our stylized results suggest that birth order can be used as a predictor of portfolio choice decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Child Psychotherapy is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

What insights can studies of son preference in Asia offer European historical demographers? Research on Asia is far easier than on historical Europe, given the scope for in-depth studies of a contemporary phenomenon instead of using available historical data. Levels of sex-selection have also been high in Asia, which makes it easier to analyze its correlates. This enables developing hypotheses that might be useful in studies of historical Europe. Studies in Asia indicate that, in rigidly patrilineal societies, son preference forms part of households' strategy for managing their assets and risks. The extent of sex-selection varied enormously over time within a given setting, rising sharply when households faced heightened risk --- such as war, or the unwinding of Communist regimes that offered communal access to resources --- and decreasing as modern state pension systems mature. These household strategies also affect the life-chances of other household members, including marriage restriction to reduce asset fragmentation. Kinship systems shape the rights of different categories of household members and the norms of cooperation between them — including between generations, spouses, and siblings of different genders and birth orders. This paper offers some hypotheses on the implications of variations in patrilineal kinship systems in Europe for the life-chances of different categories of household members. For purposes of constructing hypotheses that can be tested if data permit, the European kinship systems are contrasted in a stylized way, as those based on a 'lifeboat' ethic of jettisoning non-heirs from the household, versus those based on a more 'corporate' ethic in which the household seeks to support all its members. Historical demographers working on Europe have rich fields to explore, given the region's diversity: of kinship systems, of economic opportunities, and of exposure to major risks such as wars, famine, and the establishment and dis-establishment of Communism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine the influences of sibling constellation (sex and birth order) on creativity in the context of China's one-child policy (OCP) and Confucian culture (e.g., preference for male offspring). Participants were recruited from a public university in east China and were asked to complete 2 divergent thinking tests, including a line meaning test and a real-world problem test. Data collected from those born in or after 1979 (the year OCP was implemented in China) were selected. The sample was further divided into 6 groups for comparisons including first son, first daughter, later son, later daughter, only son, and only daughter. Results indicated that only children exhibited significantly higher abilities in visual imagination (line meaning) tasks than children with siblings. Further, testing revealed that only daughters exhibited the highest abilities, both in visual imagination (line meaning) and creative problem solving (real-world problems), as compared to other sibling constellation groups. Specifically, only daughters scored higher than later daughters in visual imagination. They also showed higher abilities than first sons in both types of creative potential tests. Implications are further discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine the influence of gender, sibling characteristics and birth order on the schooling attainment of school-age Egyptian children. We use multivariate analysis to simultaneously examine three different schooling outcomes of a child having 'no schooling', 'less than the desired level of schooling', and an 'age-appropriate level of schooling'. Estimation results show strong evidence of gender, birth order and sibling characteristics on schooling attainment, with female and rural children particularly disadvantaged. Interestingly, our results show adverse effects on the schooling outcomes of first-born male children. Finally, we show that an improvement in parental education has large, positive and significant effects on the schooling attainment of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue contains a collection of papers that study how children are affected by their sibship size, using anthropometric data. The varied results provide a wealth of new knowledge and show that this influence is context-specific. In this paper I discuss the methodological challenges that we will encounter continuing research on resource dilution in families. The most important challenge is the plausible endogeneity of sibship size and thus biased estimates of the effect. The problem of endogeneity can be made worse through residual confounding caused by measurement error. I argue that we need to be creative and find many different ways to circumvent the problems of endogeneity, for example by looking for testable implications of the resource dilution model or studying specific situations or groups. Comparative or longitudinal studies, utilizing the variation and changes in societal contexts and institutions across time and place could also provide ways forward. In general it is the basics of the scientific method that we need to keep in mind when we continue research on this topic: formulate explicit models, do replication studies, separate exploratory and confirmatory analyses, report negative results, and be cautious of over-explaining results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The object of this paper is to assess how far developments in the labour market can help to explain the fluctuations in births which have been recorded in England and Wales between 1952 and 1980. We examine separately the period rate of women from each of the first four parities proceeding to another birth. Our analysis shows that different birth orders respond differently to economic variables, and that women of different ages but the same parity respond differently. We have found that growing real wages for both men and women tend to deter older parents from adding to existing families. During the early stages of family building, births are inhibited by labour markets favourable to women. But conditions in the labour market for men have the opposite effect on early breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research findings consistently document a positive correlation between family size and delinquency. However, no study has yet provided a complete explanation for the effects of family size on delinquency. In this paper, we review several of the explanations of this correlation advanced in previous work. Explanations based on demographic or background characteristics (such as birth order and ethnicity) and on social control theory are rejected. We find that exposure to sibling delinquency seems to provide an explanation of the effects of sibship size on self-reported delinquency. We argue that this finding is consistent with propositions derived from social learning theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parity progression measures are uniquely suited to the study of fertility in China, because Chinese policies and programmes focus so closely on parity and birth order. In this paper we present period parity progression ratios for China and its urban and rural areas for the years 1955-81, using the birth history data from the one-per-thousand fertility survey of 1982. Our period parity progression ratios differ from those introduced by Henry in that they provide an overall level of fertility which may be compared with measures based on age-specific birth rates. We compare the two measures empirically for China, finding both similarities and divergences, and then analyse the relation between them. It is suggested that, where fertility is low and fluctuating, as in China, the parity-progression- based measures provide a substantially truer picture of fertility levels and trends than do age-based measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a comparative analysis of infant and early child morality. This article presents a comparative analysis of infant and early child morality. This paper explores the mortality experience of index children in four survival intervals: the first month of life, neo-natal mortality; the next eleven months, post-neo-natal mortality; the second year of life, toddler mortality; and the next three years, child mortality. We distinguish earlier and later births by survival status at the start of the relevant survival interval; for later births, we separate those which occur before the beginning of the survival interval in question from already well-established pregnancies (three to nine months' gestation), which result in births during the first six months of the survival interval, the researcher introduce age and birth order into the analysis in order to study the interplay between these risk factors and the spacing variables and also include the sex of the index child as a control. Furthermore, the article examines a larger number of countries and now cover results from 39 World Fertility Surveys instead of the earlier 26.

Only children (with no full biological siblings) are a growing subgroup in many high-income settings. Previous studies have largely focused on the short-term developmental outcomes of only children, but there is limited evidence on their health outcomes. Using Swedish population register data for cohorts born 1940–75, we compare the health of only children with that of children from multi-child sibling groups, taking into account birth order, family size, and presence of half-siblings. Only children showed lower height and fitness scores, were more likely to be overweight/obese in late adolescence, and experienced higher later-life mortality than those with one or two siblings. However, only children without half-siblings were consistently healthier than those with half-siblings, suggesting that parental disruption confers additional disadvantages. The health disadvantage was attenuated but not fully explained by adjustment for parental characteristics and after using within-family maternal cousin comparison designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is intended as a contribution to the debate on the determinants of physical stature in the past and it specifically investigates whether, in Sardinia, height − considered as a proxy of the share of household resources allocated to a child’s growth − was influenced by the number of brothers and sisters amongst whom parents had to distribute available resources. This study is limited to the male population, because military records represent the only source at our disposal providing historical data on height. The community studied is the town of Alghero, located on the north-western coast of Sardinia, at the turn of the twentieth century. We have adopted a longitudinal approach, thanks to the rich dataset reconstructed for Alghero, using different sources including family, socioeconomic and anthropometric indicators. The results, in line with the resource dilution hypothesis, show that competition within the household was of some importance and that the effects on height due to scarcity of resources were particularly evident amongst farmers, the most representative socioeconomic status group in Alghero. A significant contribution to the stature reached in adulthood was also given by the socioeconomic status of the family or else by other individual characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While the family is a critical determinant of educational achievement, methodological difficulties and the availability of data limit estimation of the family contribution in school effectiveness models. This study uses multilevel modeling to estimate the proportion of variation in student educational achievement between families, family-level intraclass correlation coefficients, and specific family structure effects (family size, birth order, birth spacing, sibling sex ratio). We use cross-classified random effects to account for school and neighborhood variation. We analyze Swedish administrative education records linked with birth records for four academic cohorts of students, with siblings identified from a wider pool of 21 cohorts. We show that almost half of the variation in student achievement described as "between students" in traditional school effectiveness studies would be better described as variation "between families," suggesting effectiveness research might give greater consideration to family-based interventions in tandem with existing student- and school-based approaches to raising low achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite historical increases in the number of individuals engaging in same-sex relations and entering same-sex unions, the causes of sexual orientation remain an open question. Two biological processes that have received some degree of empirical validation are the fraternal birth-order effect (FBOE) and the female-fecundity effect (FFE). Respectively, these processes posit that having a greater number of older brothers and being part of larger sibships independently increase the odds of male homosexuality. Nevertheless, previous studies have relied on suboptimal data and methods, including underpowered and selected samples, and models that fail to fully disentangle the two processes. In addition, they have rarely analyzed samples of women. We address these limitations using high-quality, population-level linked register data from the Netherlands (n = 9,073,496). Applying a novel multivariable approach, we jointly examine the FBOE and FFE by comparing the sibship characteristics of men (n = 26,542) and women (n = 33,534) who entered a same-sex union against those who did not (n = 4,607,785 men and 4,405,635 women). Our analyses yield robust evidence of an FBOE on both male and female homosexuality, but no support for the FFE. Additionally, we find that individuals' birth order affects the probability of entering a same-sex union, regardless of the sex of older siblings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Almost all research on son preference and the consequent sex differentials in child health has focused on India. Pakistan—a country with the second strongest stated desire for sons, no evidence of sex-selective abortion, and relatively high fertility—offers a different context in which to understand unequal health outcomes for boys and girls. I use three rounds of the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey to examine sex differentials in child healthcare receipt across different family contexts. I find evidence of generalized discrimination: all girls, regardless of sibling composition or birth order, are less likely to receive full immunization or medical treatment. I do not find evidence that girls with older sisters face greater discrimination than other girls. For boys, I find some evidence of selective preferential treatment: among larger families, first sons are more likely to receive healthcare than other sons or daughters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration of research understanding with the application of theory requires students to engage with the theory's concepts and evaluate using key research concepts. A teaching strategy using this premise with birth order theory in the Human Behavior and the Social Environment classroom is outlined in this teaching note. The various concepts involved in critiquing both research and theory are outlined when students apply their own family constellation to the initial survey and later discussion of the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most research on trends in socio-economic fertility differences has focused on cohort total fertility and on women. This study aimed to analyse how cohort trends in parity-specific fertility differ across educational segments for men and women and what role multi-partner fertility plays in these trends. We used Finnish and Swedish register data on cohorts born in 1940–73/78. The main analyses used parity progression ratios, comparing ordinary ratios with similar ratios using births to first reproductive partners only. Among the low and medium educated, we observe strengthening parity polarization across cohorts, with increases in both childlessness and births of order three or higher, the latter largely reflecting increases in multi-partner fertility. Highly educated men and women more often have exactly two children. We demonstrate that cohort total fertility can mask significant parity-specific trends across educational groups and that changes in multi-partner fertility can play a part in cohort trends in socio-economic fertility differentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This meta-analysis examined the association of birth order and divergent thinking (DT). The main purpose was to examine how ordinal position (only, first, middle, or last-born) is related to creativity. The results from 27 studies (k= 222; N = 4,690) were analyzed using a multilevel approach. Because some previous studies compared first- vs. later-born children whereas others compared different ordinal positions, three datasets were analyzed: (a) first-born vs. later-born children, (b) only children vs. children with siblings, and (c) middle-born vs. later-born children. Results showed that first-borns had higher DT scores than later-born children (g = −0.165, 95% CI [−0.012, −0.318], p =.046). Moderator analysis showed a significant interaction between gender and task modality with later-born males scoring lower on figural (but not verbal) DT than first-born males. No significant difference was found between only children and first-born children with siblings. In addition, the results showed a non-significant difference between middle- and later-born children; however, moderator analysis indicated that gender and age significantly explained some of the variability in the mean effect. Limitations and practical implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slavonic is one of the languages that was first written in the ninth century, or perhaps at the beginning of the tenth. The Moravian kingdom of Dukes Ratiz (846–70) and Svatopluk (870–94), within the framework of the missionary activities of Sts Constantine-Cyril and Methodius, is generally proposed as the context for this initiative. However, this proposition is based only on the hagiographic corpus which concerns those two saints and the value of these texts seems particularly weak. As a result, even if Slavic texts were circulating in Moravia, it is unlikely that they were the oldest steps in this linguistic innovation. It is therefore necessary to review the sources in order to contextualise the birth of the written Slavonic language; then new interpretations can be put forward to explain this novelty and its success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1990 and 2015, several post-communist countries experienced a decline in fertility, followed by a rise in the period fertility rate of roughly one child per woman. Mongolia is a good case-in-point. Its period fertility dropped further after the demise of socialism in 1990 but has increased again since 2005 and fluctuated around 3.0 children per woman in recent years. Political factors have been suggested as the explanation of these changes. This research investigates whether demographic factors also provide explanations for the period fertility changes in Mongolia. We study this through reconstructing the fertility rates, by age and birth order, from data collected by several social and demographic surveys. The fertility rates are adjusted to examine the role of tempo effects in recent fertility changes. The results show that the demographic influences, in particular childbearing postponement and recuperation, have contributed to recent changes in fertility trends and levels in Mongolia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper studied birth order differences in the frequency of children's visits to emergency departments as a function of parental anxious concern. Equal numbers of fathers and mothers of 203 boys and 148 girls aged about 2.3 years were interviewed in a pediatric clinic. The sample involved 168 firstborns and 183 later-born children. The results indicate that in cases of illness, firstborn boys were taken most frequently and later-born girls least often. In cases of injury, later-born boys were brought more often than firstborn boys. A content analysis of verbal reports concerning these visits confirms that inexperienced parents of firstborns were more anxious about their children's health than the experienced and calmer parents of later borns. Parental overconcern and protectiveness may predispose firstborns to perceive illness and painful situations as more stressful compared to later borns and to become more concerned about their physical welfare in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chapter explores the correlation between unemployment, family circumstance, and childhood among young people in Great Britain. It found that there is a large proportion of single men and married men with no dependent in the unemployed population. For the age group 16-23, the unemployed is more likely to have had children than those who spent some time economically active. Meanwhile, first-born children are less likely to be unemployed. Overall, housing tenure, social class, number of children, and region of residence were found to be strongly related to unemployment.

A method is presented for analysing maternity history data to provide period estimates of parity progression ratios, birth intervals and related indices. This is applied to a sample of the marriage and maternity histories from the Census of England and Wales of 1971 and shows: (a) a general increase through the 1950s and into the 1960s in period estimates of marriage and parity progression ratios, especially in the progression from first to second birth; (b) a general acceleration of fertility with, again, the second birth interval becoming particularly short and compact; and (c) very steep declines in third and fourth birth progression ratios from the mid-1960s. Birth interval distributions altered during the period examined. Decomposition of a progression-based total fertility index shows change in the ratios for lower birth orders to have dominated the fertility upswing and declines in ratios for higher birth orders to have initiated the subsequent decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brass's method for estimating child mortality is based on an ingeniously simplified model. However, it frequently leads to values of q(x) that are not consistent with each other. This is most obvious for estimates of q(1). This paper examines the extent to which such inconsistencies are caused by simplifications in the model. Three assumptions are relaxed by adjusting for differences in infant mortality by birth order, taking account of annual fluctuations in mortality, and using a different age pattern of fertility for each cohort. These adjustments are applied to data from the 1974 Bangladesh Retrospective Survey of Fertility and Mortality and the 1975 Bangladesh Fertility Survey in which additional data from the Cholera Research Laboratory are used. The resulting estimates are more consistent both internally and with estimates from other surveys and by other procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compared the structure and the content of mothers' and fathers' infant-directed speech as a function of infant birth order. Seven first-born and four second-born infants were video-recorded during their natural dyadic interactions with their mothers and fathers at home from the second to the sixth month after birth at 15-day intervals. Microanalysis of parental speech according to infant birth order revealed structural variations, qualitative and quantitative differences that indicate patterns of complementarity and, stability with mother and father. These results are discussed in relation to the psychobiological theory of intersubjectivity and of the complementary, intimate and trusted company and care both parents give to the developing personality of infants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the association of sibling sex-composition on socioeconomic outcomes in adulthood, where previous studies have found mixed results. Using Swedish administrative registers covering all biological siblings born between years 1960 and 1970 in two- and three-child families, the sex-composition of siblings is disentangled from their birth order and gender. The reported income magnitudes (measured as rank and absolute term) are small. In all, having a same-sex or opposite-sex sibling seems not to be an important family structural component for understanding socioeconomic outcomes such as income differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Injury has been increasing exponentially, especially in children, and it has become a public health concern. The present study was conducted with the objective of determining the prevalence and profile of unintentional injury among children of 1-5-year age group in a rural community of India and also to find out the predictors. Primary caregiver was interviewed by using a structured interview schedule. Parent supervisory behaviour was assessed using Parent Supervision Attributes Profile Questionnaire (PSAPQ), and child injury risk-taking behaviour was assessed by using injury behaviour checklist (IBC). Children encountered any unintentional injury event during last three-month period were 261 (62.7%). PSAPQ score was significantly higher in those parents where children had no episode of injury compared to others. Among four components of the PSAPQ, protectiveness (p = 0.049) and risk tolerance (p = 0.001) score had significant positive association with the incidence of unintentional injury. Binary multivariable logistic regression technique had found that age of the child, gender, primary care giver, birth order of the baby, the number of siblings, social class and IBC score has significant association with history of unintentional injury. There is utmost need for the development of effective programmes and training strategies to prevent unintentional injury among under-five children in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Findings: Siblings' interactions in early childhood may provide a unique context for understanding others' needs and fostering prosociality. This 2-year longitudinal study examined children's prosocial responsiveness to their siblings' needs during naturalistic interactions. European-Canadian sibling dyads (N = 39) were observed in their homes for a total of 18 hours – when they were age 2 and 4 years and 2 years later. Prosocial opportunities were identified from children's manifestations of need and coded for types of responses to such needs. Analyses indicated that younger siblings manifested more cues indicating a need. Siblings often expressed their needs explicitly through direct verbal or nonverbal requests. Alongside situational cues and parental intervention, direct verbal requests were particularly likely to elicit prosociality. Children engaged in helping more than sharing, followed by comforting and protecting. Opportunities to share were rejected more than other types of prosocial behaviors. With age, children were more likely to help, and less likely to refuse to share. With regards to birth order, 4-year-old firstborns engaged in helping, comforting, and protecting (but not sharing) more than 4-year-old secondborns. Practice or Policy: Findings have implications for parents by suggesting ways in which prosociality can be fostered within the sibling relationship in early childhood, and for researchers by extending recent theories of early prosociality from experimental settings to naturalistic interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's progress in reducing under-five mortality rates is impressive in the past decade but not as much for neonatal or infant mortality. Very few studies have attempted to examine the role of differential impact of predictors like intergenerational transmission, gender, birth order, social, economic and religious characteristics, on the odds of each age-specific mortality (viz., preterm deaths, neonatal, infant and under-five mortality) vis-à-vis survival. The results from the multinomial logit model show that compared to other age-specific mortality, preterm deaths and neonatal mortality have the largest number of statistically significant predictors. Maternal characteristics and birth order compared to environmental and socio-economic conditions have higher odds of avoiding early age mortality, while for avoiding later age mortality all these variables have similar but lower odds ratio. An analysis of this nature hopes to provide better insights for public policy to reduce child mortality and to attain SDG targets at a quicker pace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sibling relationship is the longest relationship of the life course and has been found to influence youth adjustment (Dunn, 2002). Given that adolescence is a time of increased body awareness, the authors examined the potential role of siblings' body conceptions and sibling relationship quality on adolescent body conceptions. In a sample of 101 predominantly White, middle-class adolescent sibling dyads, the authors found that positive sibling relationship quality was associated with higher physical self-worth in adolescents, but that this differed by sibling gender and sibling physical self-worth. Alternatively, negative sibling relationship quality was associated with lower physical self-worth for adolescents, but differed based on birth order, sibling physical self-worth, and adolescent gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This analysis set out to identify associations between birth order and sexual health outcomes, focusing on family involvement in sex education and early sexual experiences. The third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles is a stratified probability sample survey of 15 162 men and women aged 16-74 in Britain. Logistic regression was conducted to identify odds ratios for the association between birth order and sexual health outcomes. Multiple logistic regression was performed adjusting for socio-demographic factors and sibling number. Middle-born and last-born men had lower odds of reporting ease talking to parents about sex around age 14 and learning about sex from their mothers. Last-born women had lower odds of reporting a parental main source of sex education or having learned about sex from their mother. Findings represent an exploratory analysis in an under-researched area, and provide the basis for further research on the association between birth order and parental involvement in sex education, as well as the role and impact of sex education provided by older siblings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food retailers have had difficulties increasing their private-label sales during non-recessionary periods. Conventional research leads us to believe it would be ineffective to use traditional segmentation to target prospective private-label buyers because sociodemographics and most psychographics are not strongly linked to private-label attitudes, purchases, or willingness-to-pay. Many studies have concluded that perceived risks are associated with private-label attitudes and are limiting private-label sales. This study explores a new approach to identify potential private-label buyers. The results from an internet panel survey of 605 adults were analyzed with binary logistic regressions. Several scales, which have rarely been employed in grocery shopper studies, were used to profile those individuals who perceive more risks from buying or using private labels. The characteristics of these individuals can help retailers and private-label marketers develop appealing product offerings and target prospective private-label buyers using various marketing tactics to grow their private-label businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prevalence of stunting among India’s tribal under-five children has witnessed a 3% annual decline in the last 8 years. Cross-sectional data of 1000 children (287 tribal and 713 non-tribal) aged 0-23 months from Odisha’s Rapid Survey of Children (RSOC, 2014) was analysed to identify the predictors of stunting and severe stunting among tribal children and to suggest policy and programme implications. Results show significant determinants of childhood stunting to be birth order, maternal illiteracy and determinants for severe stunting were maternal age <18 years at marriage and <20 years at birth, and <3 antenatal clinic visits. Severe stunting in tribal children was predicted by basic causes: poverty and maternal age <20 years at first birth and age <18 years at marriage. Findings strongly suggest to accelerate efforts towards reducing childhood stunting in Odisha more specifically among tribal children for whom a special strategy is urgently warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Notwithstanding their relatedness, siblings vary as much as strangers with respect to personality traits. Attempting to explain this paradox across many publications, Frank J. Sulloway invokes evolutionary theory, specifically emphasizing Malthusian competition and referencing the concept ofadaptive radiation, which produced beak variation among Darwinian finches as they spread across the Galapagos Archipelago. However, Sulloway understands birth order and other familial dynamics to create personality variation among siblings, using evolutionary concepts only as illustrative comparisons. The present paper argues that Sulloway mistook a literal truth for an analogy. Sibling personality variation does not mirror a process of evolution, it is a process of evolution. Substituting the macroevolutionary process ofadaptive radiationfor the microevolutionary process ofadaptive diversification,and emphasizing the perpetuation of genetic material above the survival of the organism, sibling personality variation is herein explained as a hedge against lineage extinction. Unable either to predict environmental challenges or create pluripotent offspring, parents diversify their brood and thereby diversify their risk. As discussed, sibling personality variation as an ontogenetic process of adaptation remains relevant, but only in so far as it augments a primary genetic process of evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is still considerable uncertainty about how reproductive factors affect child mortality. This study, based on Demographic and Health Survey data from 28 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, shows that mortality is highest for firstborn children with very young mothers. Other children with young mothers, or of high birth order, also experience high mortality. Net of maternal age and birth order, a short preceding birth interval is associated with above average mortality. These patterns change, however, if time-invariant unobserved mother-level characteristics of importance for both mortality and fertility are controlled for in a multilevel-multiprocess model. Most importantly, there are smaller advantages associated with longer birth intervals and being older at first birth. The implications of alternative reproductive 'strategies' are discussed, taking into account that if the mother is older at birth, the child will also be born in a later calendar year, when mortality may be lower [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the gender dynamics of living in child-headed households (CHHs) in a rural area in Swaziland that experiences high levels of drought, poverty and HIV and AIDS. Using a qualitative research methodology, the study examined ways in which children in CHHs meet their daily family needs and address their vulnerabilities according to their gender, focusing on the experiences of the children. The study sample consisted of 10 households, with 5 boy and 5 girl-headed households from the chiefdoms within the area. A semi-structured interview guide was used to conduct interviews in the respondents’ own homes. The study focused on the gendered coping strategies used by the children to sustain their household welfare. Three factors were examined: leadership, food provision and education. The findings show that birth order conferred headship or leadership to the eldest sibling irrespective of their gender. Variations in the performance of the three factors, which were influenced by the gender of the household head, were observed. Generally, the children acted in accordance with their socio-cultural norms demanded in fulfilling the role of leadership and food provision. Boy-headed households become disadvantaged because of the boys’ reluctance to take tasks which would contravene traditional Swazi notions of masculinity. This was exacerbated by societal expectations of the independence of boys. Hegemonic masculinity puts boys at a disadvantage when societal expectations require them to enact their masculinity through independence, rather than by drawing on the support of their neighbours/family/social networks. However, girls conformed to traditional Swazi norms. Societal compassion with the vulnerability of girls produced sustainable social arrangements and fostered resilience in girl-headed households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the large literature linking birth order to socio-economic outcomes, research uncovering the mechanisms that drive these effects has been rare. We construct a unique measure of nutritional variety to examine whether differential resource allocation among siblings explains the birth-order effect on cognitive ability. We document birth-order differences among children and young adults, showing that second and third borns perform worse on cognitive assessments compared to their firstborn siblings. We find further evidence suggesting that second- and third-born children frequently eat a smaller variety of food than their first-born counterparts. However, this differentiation in food allocation does not appear to drive the differences in cognitive ability in our sample. To our knowledge, this article is the first both to confirm the presence of a birth-order effect on cognition in a developing country and to test empirically whether a difference in food allocation contributes to this effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors reflect on a study which examines the association between myopia and birth order. They stress that the author of the study resist the temptation to over-emphasize their findings by not suggesting that the effects of birth order could explain the increased prevalence of myopia. They suggest that consideration of other factors influenced by birth order could provide significant clues to help demonstrate potential mechanisms underlying the development of myopia.