The Influence of Family Size on Some Aspects of Teen-Agers' Attitudes, Behavior and Perceptions of Home Life

Abstract

From his concept of self to his interpretation of sensory impressions the individual is shaped within the limits of his biological heritage by his experience. This experience is not be interpreted as merely personal but carries with it the impact of the culture in which he lives. The quality and variety of such experience is normally dependent to a great extent upon the type of family setting within which it takes place. All established schools of sociological and psychological thought accord great importance to the family as a determinant of or at least a major influence upon personal and social development and adjustment. There are many variables in terms of which families can be classified one of the most obvious being sheer size. Clearly as the size of family increases the number of relationships and experiences which may occur within it are multiplied. It would seem reasonable to hypothesize therefore that family influences the formation of personality. Numerous questions are posed by such a broad general hypothesis: Are there differences in the personal and social characteristics of individuals related to the size of their families which are measurable by behavioral scientists with currently available methods? What are the specific personal and social characteristics most greatly and directly affected by variation in family size? In a study of eighth and eleventh grade students in Michigan reported in 1952 Nye found that adolescents relations with their parents as evaluated by themselves indicated that children from smaller families had better adjustments to their parents than those from larger families. (excerpt)