Birth Order, Sex, and Socio-Political Orientation in College Students

Abstract

The relationship between socio-political orientation and birth-order position and sex were examined for 62 college students. A modified version of the Wilson-Patterson Conservatism Scale and abridged versions of the California F Scale and the Political and Economic Conservatism Scale measured socio-political orientation. While significant main effects for birth order and sex were not obtained on any of the scales, significant interactions of sex by birth order occurred on all three. On each scale females who were firstborn or only children scored significantly more conservatively than correspondingly born males. For subjects who were later born there was no sex difference on two of the scales, while on the Political and Economic Conservatism Scale males scored significantly more conservatively than females. The results are discussed in terms of the differential socialization experiences of firstborn and later born children and the different role expectations for males and females.