Psychology: Reflection and Critique printed version ISSN 0102-7972

Psychol. Reflex. Crit. vol.23 no.2 Porto Alegre 2010 http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0102-79722010000200002 DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

The influence of gender and birth order on parenting practices

Gender and birth order the moderators parenting

Izabela Tissot Sampaio Antunes Federal University of Santa Catarina

*

, Mauro Luís Vieira

ABSTRACT This study evaluated gender and birth order as moderating variables of parenting practices and perception of parental preference from the point of view of the children. Participated in the survey 322 adolescents between 13 and 17 years. Parenting Styles Inventory (ESI) and a questionnaire developed by the authors: two instruments for data collection were used. Data were analyzed by non-parametric statistics (MannWhitney and Kruskal-Wallis). By analyzing the results, it was found that: (a) the gender of the children interferes significantly in rates of parenting style, (b) the first-born had significantly higher risk of suffering from negative parenting practices, and (c) the perception of preference parenting is influenced by gender and birth order of the children. Keywords: Gender, Birth Order, Parental Educational Practices.

ABSTRACT This study Aimed at Assessing gender and birth order influence on parenting and Perceived parental favoritism from the children perspective. The participants were 322

adolescents aged between 13 and 17 years old. Two instruments were used to collect data - Parenting Styles Inventory and a questionnaire developed by the authors. Nonparametrical statistics (Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis) were used to analyze the data Obtained.Results have shown that: (a) child gender has Significant influence on the score of parenting styles, (b) firstborn girls present Significantly higher risk of suffering negative parenting practices and, (c) the Perceived parental favoritism is Significantly modulated by both gender and birth order. Keywords: Gender, Birth Order, Parenting.

The psychology literature on educational practices and parenting styles is quite broad, having started its theoretical body with greater resistance from the 1960s, with author Diana Baumrind (Baumrind, 1966; Darling & Steinberg, 1993). According Gomide (2006), parenting practices are techniques and strategies used by parents in rearing their children, which together characterize parenting styles. Parenting styles relate to more or less stable patterns of behavior adopted by parents when interacting with their children, forming one of the aspects of the study of the family in the context of psychology. The family is an institution that can be analyzed from the standpoint of macro or micro. From the macro point of view, we seek to understand the socio-cultural context in which it is situated, ie, as the culture, beliefs, norms, political systems and economic influence its functioning. From the micro viewpoint, the objective is to understand how the family organizes itself from its composition, ie, size, status of marital parents, temperament, personality characteristics and also the gender, age, birth order of its members (Montandon, 2005). In this research, was interested in studying the family of micro point of view; specifically understand how two specific variables - gender and birth order of the children - can influence parenting practices. When searching databases of Brazilian publications ( SciELO, BVS-Psi ), however, one realizes that these variables are not considered jointly target of much research (Sampaio, 2007), which reinforces the relevance and need for studies on the subject in our country. For Sulloway (1996), gender and birth order of the children are the main factors influencing parental behavior and fraternal competition (sibling), as they are the distinguishing features of contexts of creation. The family is no longer conceived as a homogeneous whole, but as a system composed of members at different times of development (Keller & Zach, 2002). The diversity of contexts of creation for each child depends largely on how parents invest in their children.According to Trivers (1974), parental investment is defined as an effort by the father or mother to increase the likelihood of survival and hence reproductive success of a particular child, while it decreases the degree of investment in other . Keller (2003) states that any investment involves two aspects. One of them relates to the physical, social and psychological parenting that contribute to the reproductive success of sons, promoting adequacy of parents to offspring. The other refers to parental investment directed to a particular child, which undermines parental ability to invest in another descendant with the same intensity. The parental investment can range from infanticide or neglect to the proper care, associated with a positive family atmosphere (Keller, 2000). Rodrigues (1998)

emphasizes that the care, attention and commitment of parents in raising children are influenced by a number of factors derived from the characteristics of parents, children and the environment in which they live. This influence is mainly due to the degree of genetic relatedness or certainty parent-child, child to phenotypic attributes that suggest their skills; situational indicators of the ability of the child; reproductive and alternative investment opportunities of father and mother. Regarding the influence of gender on parental investment decision, it is noteworthy that there is a confusing theoretical discussion that divides opinions of researchers. Some authors (Crouter & McHale, 1995; Lamb, 1997) point out that between parents and children appears to be a sexual identity in the sense of parents prefer their sons and mothers, women more. One example is that the presence of negative factors (such as rejection, anxiety) in paternal behavior seem to have more impact on the boys, while the same factors presented by the mothers seem to affect more girls (Roelofs, Meesters, have Huurne, Bamelis , & Muris, 2006). Other (Keller & Zach, 2002; Seifer, Sameroff, Anagnostopolou, & Elias, 1992), however, believe that recent surveys have indicated that the sex of the child is not a strong variable in determining parental investment, while the order of birth what is. For Sulloway (1996), in previous centuries, parents generally invested more in firstborn children to ensure that at least one of the offspring were successfully perpetuating the family line. Keller and Zach (2002) also suggest that special attention is given to the firstborn when compared to other children in terms of interaction time, stimulation, play, consistency, forgiveness and establishment of dialogue between parents and children. Likewise, traditional communities demonstrate their preference for firstborn when they attribute the higher status social. A study by Laurent and Sebastian (2005), with 1129 child perpetrators of offenses in France, found that firstborns were those who had fewer mild and serious transgressions compared to "born of the medium," indicating they were more supervised by parents than others. Hertwig, Davis, and Sulloway (2002), in turn, consider that the first children, while parents receive great investment especially while they are still only children (before the birth of the brothers), also can be harmed by lack of freedom and greater restrictions on certain activities. To Michalski and Shackelford (2001), the inexperience of parenting can influence the branches of the firstborn care, because as parents have more children can become calmer and adopt other strategies of interaction. According Shebloski, Conger and Widaman (2005), the firstborn are those who perceive more difference in the treatment of parents with regard to their children, since they assess family functioning more accurately, perceived differences in parental treatment that may be imperceptible or disregarded by brothers. However, it is unclear whether they are the first to use specific strategies to influence parents, or if they are more receptive to older children. Moreover, Hertwig et al. (2002) argue that there is a claim of parents to invest in their children equally, it would reduce the risk of extinction of the family line. However, the authors argue that precisely this "egalitarian" attempt to allocate resources generates inequality of investment, because when there are three or more children in the family division has no way to keep the same over time. The lack of equiparidade arises because the positions of the first and last born sometime are equivalent to one child, therefore no brothers or (in the case of the firstborn), or often the brothers leave home sooner (in the case the youngest). Middle children, however, are rarely the ones to receive parental investment, as there is the presence of older or younger with whom to share. The differences in the contexts of creating child in the family home generate competition called fraternal, ie existing natural competition between siblings in search of a better

adaptation in the environment in which it appears. The fraternal competition is considered an important force that promotes human development by contributing to the formation of different personalities (Isaacson & Radish, 2002; Sulloway, 1996). The brothers realize the amount spent each depending on how it behaves, which encourages a child to differentiate from each other for attention from parents by attribute not found in Brother parental treatment. Perceived parental differential treatment for each child enables children also perceive parental preference for a son in particular. This theme, characterized by "perception of parental preference" admits important result, as it modulates the self-perception and self-esteem of adolescents (Lucchetti, 2000). The perception of parental preference with regard to the views of children about the existence or not of parental preference for a son in particular, may be himself or / sister / o. In a survey developed by Kuperfish (2006), it was found that almost 50% of participants showed that there was parental preference for a son, and 37.6% reported themselves to be the favorites, against 12.2% who considered themselves disadvantaged . Furthermore, there was correspondence between perceived preference for fathers and mothers. Lucchetti (2000) points out that one of the most prominent factors in the perception of parental preference in pairs of siblings with respect to the form of communication that parents have with their children. Accordingly, when a child realizes that their parents communicate better with one and not with another, tend to judge that the parental preference exists. According to the author, the perception of favoritism influences the vision of children on family functioning, quality of relationships with siblings and vision of your own Self-Competence. Levy (2000) adds that, for teenagers, feeling unequal relationship with his brother is a moderating factor influencing suicide attempt, along with other factors, such as maternal bias and lack of admiration and care from the brother.The author points out that the relation between siblings, birth order and sex are strongly related to suicide attempts in adolescents. Results obtained by Magagnin and Körbes (2000) also indicated that when the teenager has high self-concept scores, the relationship with parents and siblings also shows good. Moilanen (2007) adds that self-regulation of adolescents relates positively with parental affection, and negatively associated with psychological control. Given the above, it is apparent the complexity of the topic related to parenting practices and perception of parental preference moderated by gender and birth order of the children, when they have contact with theoretical discussions on the subject. It is intended that this paper will become a source of inspiration for further research, in order to complement and deepen the data disclosed. Furthermore, the information discussed here should be considered by Professional Psychology and the like, especially dealing with families in mind prevention projects and clinical and / or community aimed at improving the family environment intervention.

Theoretical Model
The theoretical model used in this research is the result of eight years of research on parenting styles, having been constructed from several studies undergraduate, master's and undergraduate research that focused on specific and have adopted different methods in the exploration of the theme. Has been specially developed to help identify children and adolescents at risk of developing antisocial behaviors in order to guide intervention (Gomide & Sampaio, 2007). It consists of seven educational practices, both

on the development of prosocial behavior, called positive, and five anti-social, negative calls (Gomide, 2006). These categories are evaluated using the Parenting Styles Inventory (ESI), an instrument used to collect data from this study, validated by the Federal Council of Psychology. Positive Practices Positive monitoring . Is the attention and parents' knowledge about where your child is and the activities for him.Includes demonstrations of affection and care, especially related to the moments of greatest need of the child.She is considered by many authors as an important variable to promote healthy development and prevent anti-social behavior. Moral behavior . Refers to moral values such as honesty, generosity and sense of justice teaching. Characterized by correct and consistent examples shown by parents. It is noteworthy that the guilt, the development of empathy, honest actions and positive parental beliefs about work contribute to it to develop. Negative Practices Inconsistent punishment . Happens when parents punish or reinforce the behavior of their children according to the mood, so not contingent on the child's behavior. The emotional state of parents is crucial in educational activities, and not the child's actions. The child learns to discriminate the mood of his parents and not his act was appropriate or inappropriate. According to Berri (2004), the inconsistent punishment is strongly linked to physical abuse, since the frequency and intensity vary according to the beat mood of the punishing agent, and that the more emotionally unstable, more often and with more force does . Negligence . Occurs when the parents are not attentive to the needs of their children are absent-responsibilities, are omitted to assist them, or simply interact without affection, without love. It is one of the variables that contributed most to the development of antisocial behavior, because the lack of care and especially of love and affection, prevents or hinders the development of self-esteem. Monitoring Negative . Refers to excessive supervision of parents about their children's lives and the large amount of repetitive instructions, which are not followed. In short, it is an exaggerated psychological and behavioral control. Attempts to continuous control by parents inhibit or interfere with the development of self-confidence and autonomy of children because maintain emotional dependence on parents. Relaxed discipline . Indicates that the controlling factor of the parents - children interaction is aggressive / opponent and coercive child behavior. The rules set by parents are not fulfilled and, before recoveries or threats, the child becomes rebellious and manipulative, and managed to keep the situation the way you want for yourself.Parents, in turn, are omitted from imposing or maintaining the boundaries, not enforcing the rules that they themselves have determined. The rules therefore are loose and inefficient. Physical Abuse . It is characterized when parents hurt or cause pain to their children on the grounds that they are educating them, sometimes causing them injury and leaving marks on the skin. Research shows that physical abuse (beatings) and neglect are the factors that trigger with greater ease antisocial behavior in children and adolescents.

The aim of this study was therefore to identify whether parenting practices described above are modified according to the gender and birth order of the children. The data source was the children themselves who answered the instruments with reference to their parents or caregivers responsible. In this sense, it is worth remembering that it is not just the perception or reporting of the participants in this regard, since the instrument depicts the practices themselves. This information was revealed in a survey (Carvalho, 2003) which indicated that IEPs answered by the parents confer with the answered by their children. So if there is a positive association between what parents do and judge themselves how children evaluate, it can be considered that the responses of the children identify parenting practices.

Method
The research adopted a factorial design, in which the following conditions were crossed: parents (two levels: parents), gender of the children (two levels: male and female) and birth order of the children (four levels: the firstborn from among , youngest and only). Participants Participated in this study 322 adolescents between 13 and 17 years (mean = 14 years and 6 months, SD = 1.05), 59% female. The majority (68.9%) lives with his parents, and the education of these corresponded, for the most part (55.6%) at the top, complete or not education. Of the 277 (86%) have siblings participants, the majority (85.6%) had had one or two, while only 14.4% have three or more marked. The distribution of patients in the groups is shown in Table 1 .

Birth order was a variable included by the researchers themselves, from the comparison of the age of the respondent at the age of siblings, so the participants themselves were not that marked their birth position.Considered "sons / the middle" boys and girls nonfirstborn and non-cadets, regardless of whether more than three children in the family,

because the subsequent divisions considerably decrease the size of the groups, fragmenting the analysis. The questionnaires were administered in three institutions: a private school in large, one medium-sized state school and a non-governmental organization (NGO) that keeps lowincome students in several private schools. Instruments and Procedures The project was submitted to the Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Santa Catarina, following the guidelines of Resolution 196/96 of the National Council on Ethics in Research. Received approval under number 026/07. As the participants were younger than 18 years old, after they themselves agreed to participate, the terms of consent were delivered and signed by their parents or guardians, allowing them to participate. As for the instruments, the Parenting Styles Inventory (IEP), Gomide (2006), and a questionnaire (called "Additional Sheet") developed by the researchers to collect data on family setting and perception of parental preference were used . Respondents could choose the material for which would begin to respond as they have been delivered together, although they were stapled in the following order: IEP maternal, paternal and IEP Additional Sheet. The IEP contains 42 items that assess the seven educational practices, and the practice match every 6 sentences whose answers must fit in a three-point Likert scale (always, sometimes, never). The sum of items in each practice generates a raw score should be converted into percentage in the normative tables. Is also generated index parenting style (iep) when you subtract the sum of the scores of the negative practices of the sum of the positive. In this study, the raw values in statistical analyzes, and subsequently converted from group averages were considered. Specifically with regard to Additional Sheet, the respondent should answer: Who lives, which the parents' education, whether you have sister / them, their sex and age and if so, if in their opinion the father and / or mother has a son / a preferred / a, indicate him / her, and justify in 3 lines openly why believe that the preference exists. This questionnaire was assessed in terms of frequency of responses and association tests. : Analysis of IEP differences tests were used U , and the Mann-Whitney test comparing the genus H Kruskal-Wallis and Multiple Comparisons for birth order. Such nonparametric tests were chosen because the data did not satisfy the conditions of normality required for the use of parametric statistics. For other calculations association, combining the results obtained by the IEP Additional Sheet, proof of was used chisquare . For all tests, was considered α = 95%.

Results
In the evaluation of educational practices, the IEP provided an overall score (iep) and a score for each educational practice separately. To address the objectives of this research, comparisons between groups were made considering all these scores, both for mothers and for fathers. The data are shown in Table 2 . With regard to Parental Style Indices (IEP) maternal and paternal, it was found that the paternal IEP were statistically different with respect to gender of the children ( U = 12185, p > 0.05), and the values of girls lower than the male. This difference did not

occur with the mothers, which means that the male and female groups had maternal scores close. With respect to the order of birth, proof of Kruskal-Wallis test revealed no significant differences between groups analyzed by taking the value of general iep. However, it is noteworthy that both parents ( M = 6.34, df = 3, p = 0.09), and for mothers ( M = 6.8, df = 3, p = 0.078), the value of p was less than 0.1, indicating a tendency of parents to adopt special treatments for each child although one can not say that this difference is statistically justified. Considering each educational practice separately according to the gender of the children, it was observed that maternal scores showed statistical differences in the practice of moral behavior only. The female group assessed the mothers as more active in this practice than boys ( U = 10295, p