The results indicate that emotionally disturbed boys put a greater distance between pairs of human figures than the control group, but not more than their male siblings. Unexpectedly, the groups did not differ in their separation of the mother and son figures. (Author)

To provide a fuller description of the significant others in the social world of an adolescent, the Social Relations Questionnaire was developed and administered to approximately 3000 seventh- through tenth-graders. Results indicate that parents and siblings are almost always listed as significant others by adolescents in all four grade levels.…

Zajonc has proposed that the decline in high school achievement since 1965 can be explained by the trend from 1947 to 1962 toward larger, closer-spaced families. This study tested this theory with data on students in Iowa high schools. Overall, the results raise doubt about this hypothesis. (Author/CTM)

Examined the effect of the sibling structures of number and spacing, sex composition, and birth order on adolescents' perceptions of the power and support dimensions of parental behavior. Results suggest that research focusing on birth order must control for number of siblings, spacing, and sex composition of siblings. (Author)

Very close age spacing was an obstacle to high academic performance for later borns. In family relations and self-esteem, first borns scored better and performed in school as well as their potentially much more able younger siblings, regardless of age spacing. (Author)

Size of family of origin is more strongly related to wife's than husband's life chances. The mediating effect of allocation preferences on the number of siblings/life chances relationship carries through to the number of siblings/number of live-births relationship. (Author)

In this study, a self-esteem maintenance model is introduced and is used to test predictions about sibling identification, sibling friction, and the closeness of father-son relationships as they relate to sibling performance. (Author/SS)

Interactions were observed as 80 mothers helped their first-grade children on an object-sorting task in the presence and absence of a third-grade sibling. (JMB)

This study investigated the feelings and concerns of 64 elderly persons, as revealed by a projective instrument, in relation to number and sex of siblings. The number and proportion of female siblings were found to have a greater influence than male siblings on the elderly's feelings and concerns. (Author)

This follow-up study of international and domestic adoptions, involving participants first studied in 1981, investigated the role of family size and structure, particularly the presence of both biological and adopted children in a family, on adoption outcomes. Data suggested that families who adopt children and have birth children may have less…

Examined specific impact on birth children of living in households fostering children with severe learning disabilities. Found that important issues include sharing activities, involvement in helping care, and the different ways in which boys and girls respond to the situation. Also compared adult caregivers' attitudes to children's attitudes…

Examined factors associated with individual variation in false belief understanding in three- to five-year olds. Found that family size was strongly associated with false belief understanding in children who were less competent linguistically, suggesting that the presence of siblings can compensate for slower language development in developing…

Childhood play and adolescent leisure preferences were solicited from 168 predominantly white undergraduates who also completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory and rated the amount of time spent playing with same- and opposite-sex siblings. There was evidence of more stereotyped preferences by those with same-sex siblings. (SLD)