Sibling Structure and Perception of the Disciplinary Roles of Parents

Various types of evidence 'combine to suggest that perception of father as principal disciplinarian is associated with the outward discharge of anger' & that perception of mother as principle disciplinarian is associated with inward discharge of anger. This association holds for psycho-physiol'al reactions, att's, & delinquency. Sletto found that delinquents 'come disproportionately from families in which there are younger siblings.' If the eldest child perceives the father as disciplinarian & the younger child the mother, 'the relation of delinquency to birth order found by Sletto could be accounted for by the relation of the disciplinary structure to birth order,' thus more plausibly relating delinquency to disciplinary structure, in turn related to birth order. 2 samples were selected to test the relation between perception of mother or father as 'principal disciplinarian in your family' & birth order, controlling for sex, grade in Sch, sibling sex composition, family size, region (New England & Southern), & religion. 1,335 S's in 2 Massachusetts public HSch's formed one, & 391 Coll S's & 226 HSch S's in Tennessee another sample. In both samples the hypo is upheld: the eldest child tends to perceive the father as principal disciplinarian & the youngest the mother. In addition, daughters tend to perceive mother as the disciplinarian & sons perceive the father. It is plausible to assume that outward aggression & perception of father as disciplinarian is at least partly a function of the cultural role of man-men are more outwardly aggressive than women & thus, when they are the principal disciplinarian they may not punish similar behavior in their children or may even reward it. In addition, since mother is a source of love & nurture, aggressive behavior toward her may be inhibited to avoid the threat of loss of love & nurture, esp when she also punishes such behavior. C. R. Shepherd.