Richards and Goodman (1949) compared children of various birth order and family composition who were referred to a psychiatric clinic (p. 753). They found that only children and children from small families were more similar than different (Richards and Goodman, 1949, p. 756). This led them to believe that because only children and children from small families received similar amounts of attention and over-protection by parents, that family size was the cause of differences (Richards and Goodman, 1949, p. 756-757). Family size could only be considered the differentiating factor is, by adding the single person would have the same effect no matter the size of the starting family group. Yet, studies have shown that this is not the case because as more children are added, parents resources decrease exponentially, dropping suddenly after the first child, but then staying relatively stable as each child is added after that (Downey and Condron, 2004, p 333-334). Additionally, if individual differences were not dependent on birth order, then children in a large family would be similar not matter what order they were born in. Yet, studies show that there are substantial differences between middle children and last-born children; middle children value adult attention and praise (McGurk and Lewis, 2004, p. 336), where as later-born children prefer a similar amount of peer and adult interaction (Baskett, 1984, p. 1031). These differences show that one’s specific location in birth order has more of an effect than family
Richards and Goodman (1949) compared children of various birth order and family composition who were referred to a psychiatric clinic (p. 753). They found that only children and children from small families were more similar than different (Richards and Goodman, 1949, p. 756). This led them to believe that because only children and children from small families received similar amounts of attention and over-protection by parents, that family size was the cause of differences (Richards and Goodman, 1949, p. 756-757). Family size could only be considered the differentiating factor is, by adding the single person would have the same effect no matter the size of the starting family group. Yet, studies have shown that this is not the case because as more children are added, parents resources decrease exponentially, dropping suddenly after the first child, but then staying relatively stable as each child is added after that (Downey and Condron, 2004, p 333-334). Additionally, if individual differences were not dependent on birth order, then children in a large family would be similar not matter what order they were born in. Yet, studies show that there are substantial differences between middle children and last-born children; middle children value adult attention and praise (McGurk and Lewis, 2004, p. 336), where as later-born children prefer a similar amount of peer and adult interaction (Baskett, 1984, p. 1031). These differences show that one’s specific location in birth order has more of an effect than family