Birth Order and Responsibility

Abstract

This questionnaire study of a large conventional sample represents an attempt to test hypotheses about birth order which were generated from an impressionistic survey of eminent men. The main hypothesis was that the first of sex-due to an interaction with parents who are more requiring of compliance with moral injunctions and adult expectations-tend (in comparison to the later of sex) to internalize more strongly these injunctions and expectations with a resultant stronger sense of serious moral responsibility. Analysis of the results by non-parametric statistical methods gave support to the hypothesis: In each of the three major subgroups (young males and females and older males), the first of sex gave earlier responsibility scores than did the later of sex. Other results tangential to the main hypothesis are also reported. THE present questionnaire study stems principally from an impressionistic study of eminent men1 which suggested a relationship between birth order and certain beliefs. It appeared that first or only sons tended to believe that strong moral regulation of the crude instinct for selfpreservation is provided by an internalized mechanism or process (Kant's categorical imperative, Freud's superego) whereas later sons were inclined to be more impressed with the power of the self-preservative tendency (Machiavelli) and with the consequent necessity for strong external regulation (Hobbes).