2001/01/01 by Susan M. McHale, Kimberly A. Updegraff, Heather Helms‐Erikson +1 · 4 citations
Social Sciences · Psychology · Medicine · #Gender Roles and Identity Studies #Early Childhood Education and Development #Cognitive Abilities and Testing #Firstborn #Sibling #Psychology #Developmental psychology #Birth order #Sibling relationship #Personality #Longitudinal study #Personality development #Child development #Demography #Social psychology #Population #Medicine
paper · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.37.1.115
openalex publication_date 2001/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/02
The development of gender role qualities (attitudes, personality, leisure activities) from middle childhood to early adolescence was studied to determine whether siblings' gender role qualities predicted those of their sisters and brothers. Participants were 198 firstborn and second-born siblings (Ms = 10 years 9 months and 8 years 3 months, respectively, in Year 1) and their parents. Families were interviewed annually for 3 years. Firstborn siblings' qualities in Year 1 predicted second-born children's qualities in Year 3 when both parent and child qualities in Year 1 were controlled, a pattern consistent with a social learning model of sibling influence. Parental influence was more evident and sibling influence less evident in predicting firstborns' qualities; for firstborns, sibling influences suggested a de-identification process.