Relationship between birth order, perceived parental favoritism and self-esteem

Abstract

Cilj istraživanja bio je ispitati povezanost samopoštovanja i roditeljskog favoriziranja te razlike u povezanosti obzirom na rod i redoslijed rođenja. Uzorkom je obuhvaćeno 47 istospolnih parova braće i sestara. Sudionici su ispunili ljestvice za procjenu roditeljskog favoriziranja i općeg samopoštovanja. Rezultati su pokazali da su zadnjerođena djeca percipirana kao više favorizirana od strane majke i oca. Ne postoje rodne razlike u procjeni roditeljskog favoriziranja. Nadalje, muškarci imaju višu razinu samopoštovanja od žena, pri čemu prvorođeni muškarci imaju višu razinu samopoštovanja od drugorođenih muškaraca, prvorođenih i drugorođenih žena. Nije nađena povezanost percepcije roditeljskog favoriziranja i samopoštovanja. Provedene su dvije hijerarhijske regresijske analize, jedna za nezavisnu varijablu majčin favoritizam, a druga za nezavisnu varijablu očev favoritizam. Kriterijska varijabla u oba slučaja je samopoštovanje. Provjeravan je moderatorski utjecaj roda i redoslijeda rođenja na povezanost roditeljskog favoritizma i samopoštovanja. Žene koje su percipirale viši majčin favoritizam imale su više samopoštovanje u odnosu na žene koje su percipirale niži majčin favoritizam. Muškarci imaju više samopoštovanje od žena bez obzira na percipirani majčin favoritizam. Za favoritizam oca, nisu pronađene razlike u razini samopoštovanja.The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between self-esteem and perceived parental favoritism, and the difference in correlations with regard to gender and birth order. The sample included 47 pairs of same-gender siblings. Participants filled out the scales for the assessment of the perceived parental favouritism and self-esteem. The results showed that the last-born children both perceived themselves and were perceived as more favoured by both mother and father. There were no gender differences in the perception of parental favouritism. Furthermore, men have higher levels of self-esteem, where first-born men have higher levels of self-esteem than second-born men, first-born and second-born women. Associations between perceived parental favoritism and self-esteem were not found. Two hierarchical regression analyses were conducted, one for the independent variable maternal favoritism and the other for the independent variable paternal favoritism. The criterion variable in both cases was self-esteem. We examined the moderating effect of gender and birth order on the association between parental favouritism and self-esteem. Women who perceived higher maternal favouritism had higher self-esteem than women who perceived lower maternal favouritism. Men have higher self-esteem than women regardless of perceived maternal favoritism. For fathers' favouritism, no differences were found in the level of self-esteem