Siblings play crucial roles in each other's cognitive and language development because they observe, imitate, and receive guidance and support from each other during their interactions. In this research, we examined trilingual siblings (ages 6 and 9) from an immigrant family with a rarely explored cultural background (American-born children of…

This article investigates forms of strategic interaction between siblings during childhood. The authors argue that these interactions, characterized by notions of reciprocity, equivalence and constructions of fairness, are worked out in relation to responsibility, power, knowledge and sibling status. Birth order and age are not experienced as…

Birth order effects at 3 different ordinal positions were related to social activities of lower class preschool children. (GO)

Compares the interactions of 20 firstborn and 17 lastborn children with their parents and siblings. Children were observed at home for five 45-minute sessions. Oldest children differed from youngest children in emitting more behaviors to parents than to siblings and in receiving more negative responses from parents and siblings. (Author/CB)

In a second follow-up study of sibling interaction, 24 pairs of same-sex siblings and 24 pairs of mixed-sex siblings were observed in their homes 18 months after the first follow-up and 3 years after the initial observations. The patterning of interaction was similar to that observed earlier. (Author/DR)

Presents a study of the early home experiences of a group of 2-week-old infants, equally divided according to social class, birth order and sex. (JMB)

A study explored the extent to which a child's birth order is associated with differential treatment by others. Twenty pairs of siblings between 4 and 9 years of age were observed interacting in a laboratory setting. All were white, middle-class children whose mothers had at least some college education. The children played with and without their…

This study explored the relationship between the mother-infant interaction and the concurrent perceptual-cognitive and intellectual status of the infant. One hundred and eight-nine 12-week-old infants were given a battery of perceptual-cognitive tasks, including the Mental Developmental Index (MDI) of the Bayley Scales, the Corman-Escalona Scales…

Changes that occurred in the use of the dimensions of power and function were investigated in a cross-sectional study of second-born and only children aged five to 13 years. The investigation focused on age of child, sex of child, sex of sibling, age-spacing between sibling and sibling status of child. Results indicated that children significantly…

Results are interpreted in terms of role theory and sibling rivalry, and have application for school practice. (Author)

The expansion process of the family after the arrival of a second child was the focus of this longitudinal study. Sixteen families, each with one child between one and three years old and a second child born at the beginning of the study, were observed in everyday situations when one or both parents were interacting with one or both children.…

This study examines the effects of sex, socioeconomic status, birth order and birth spacing on the cognitive performance of 12-week-old infants. A brief review of research on neonatal cognitive ability is followed by a description of the study itself. The subjects, 189 three-month-old Caucasian infants (61 first borns, 58 second borns, and 49…

This report summarizes three related studies of 3- to 5-year-old children's temperament and its relationship to their social competence, ability to solve interpersonal problems, locus of control, parent behavior and teacher/child interactions. Fifty-eight children, predominantly middle class participants in a laboratory preschool, and their…