The effects of first-born siblings on the gender identificatin of second-born siblings

The present study was designed to look at the effects of older siblings on the gender identification of younger siblings. Four groups of children encompassing all combinations of birth order and gender were selected from a rural school system. Additionally, a modified miniature situations scale (MMS) was devised for the study to measure gender identification. All second-born children were given the MMS scale as well as the femininity scales from the California Personality Inventory—(CPI-Fe). First-born children were only administered the femininity scale from the CPI. Results from the study indicate that birth order is not a factor in the gender identification of younger siblings. However, older siblings with younger cross-gender siblings were found to be significantly more masculine than younger siblings with older cross-gender siblings as measured on the CPI-Fe index. Correlation coefficients obtained from second-born children for scores on the femininity scale of the CPI and the MMS index indicate that the MMS scale can be a useful measure for assessing gender in latency-age children.