抄録
The development of personality of young children is strongly influenced by interrelation in their family.
It has been already said that the birth-order is an important factor in the formation of some aspects of personality.
In this research, we picked out dependency and aggression as children's personality variables, and studied how these variables were related to the birth-order.
Fifty subjects consisting of the only child and any of the three siblings were selected from two kindergartens.
The investigation had three phases.
The first phase : Subjects were observed in the laboratory for 45 minutes under the situations given by the investigators. The situations or tasks given were as follows.
(1) free play (10 min.) (2) play with blocks (5 min.) (3) solving problems with blocks (10 min.) (4) picture drawing (10 min.) (5) construction with blocks (10 min.)
The second phase : Subjects were observed under the ordinary situations in their kindergartens. Nine observations (each 5 min. a time) were made per subject.
The third phase : A questionnaire relating to children's behavior categories of dependency and aggression was administered to the mothers.
The following facts were found out.
Dependency and aggression are related to the birth-order.
The only child and the youngest child are more dependent and aggressive than others, and the eldest child is the most independent and nonaggressive.
