The Effects of Family Size and Birth Order on Students' Social Emotional and Cognitive Development

Author(s)

Mary WatsonFollow

Abstract

This project sought to analyze and understand the differences in student’s cognitive and social emotional development based on their number of siblings (also referred to as family size) and birth order. To accomplish this, a 130-question survey was created and emailed to approximately 125 teachers. 27 survey responses were received, which is a response rate of approximately 21.6%. The response data was categorized by only child, oldest child, youngest child, child with one or two siblings, child with three or four siblings, and child with five or more siblings. Though the responses were varied, the data showed that oldest children had a slight cognitive advantage compared to only children and youngest children. It also showed that youngest children were less likely to take control in a group setting. Finally, the data showed that children with five or more siblings had lower cognitive development, but higher social emotional development. These findings are similar to previous research studies, which leads to the conclusion that teachers may need to differentiate support in the classroom based on the variables of family size and birth order.

Department

Education

Major

Early Childhood Education – Inclusive

First Advisor

Dr. Angela Thomas

First Advisor Department

Education

Second Advisor

Professor Jenjira Yahirun

Second Advisor Department

Sociology

Publication Date

Spring 4-3-2023

Repository Citation

Watson, Mary, "The Effects of Family Size and Birth Order on Students' Social Emotional and Cognitive Development" (2023). Honors Projects. 908.
https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/honorsprojects/908