Relationship of order and number of siblings to perceived parental attitudes in childhood.
Despite the increasingly recognized link between perceived parenting behavior and the onset of psychopathology in adults, studies of the possible determinants of perceptions of parenting behavior are rare. In a sample of 1,145 pregnant Japanese women, correlations were examined between the numbers and sexes of siblings and perceived rearing practices, as rated by the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI; Parker, Tupling, & Brown, 1979). The participants with more elder sisters viewed their parents' attitudes as less caring, whereas those with more brothers, particularly younger brothers, viewed their parents' attitudes as less overprotective. However, the proportion of the variance of all the PBI scores explained by different types of siblings was very small.
Kitamura
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T
Department of Sociocultural Environmental Research, National Institute of Mental Health, Japan.
Sugawara
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M
Shima
S
S
Toda
M A
MA
D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D001722:Birth Order; D002648:Child; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009769:Object Attachment; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010553:Personality Development; D011247:Pregnancy; D012744:Sex Ratio