In many countries, the male:female ratio at birth has varied significantly over the past century, but the reasons for these changes have been unclear. The authors observed a close parallel between decreasing family size and declining male:female sex ratio in Denmark from 1960 to 1994. To explain this finding, they examined the sex ratio and birth order of 1,403,021 children born to 700,030 coup...

This paper explores the ways in which children perceive the relative opportunities and constraints of their birth order position within their families by comparing and contrasting the views of oldest, middle and youngest siblings. It shows that birth order and age can be experienced at times as a constraint on sibling behaviour and at other times as a resource that can be utilised in a dynamic ...

Recent conflicting findings raise the issue of whether observed differences in levels of psychological distress of 1st and later borns are a function of their contemporary social situation, or of basic personality defect in 1 or the other group. Hypotheses which might explain conflicting findings are derived from Schachter's work: among Ss exposed to stressors, 1st borns will show more symptoms...

This paper investigates the e ect of family size and birth order on educational attainment. An instrumental variables approach is used to identify the e ect of family size. Instruments for the number of children are twins at last birth and the sex mix of the rst two children. The e ect of birth order is identi ed, by examining the relation with years of education for di erent family sizes separ...