The relationship of birth order, parenting styles, and gender on sensation seeking

• Main Author: Jaffe, Nicole
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01-01-2004
• Subjects: Behavioral psychology; Behaviorial sciences; Personality; Personality psychology
• ISBN: 0496801643; 9780496801640

Sensation seeking is a trait describing the “tendency to seek novel, varied, complex, and intense sensations and experiences and the willingness to take risks for the sake of such experience” (Zuckerman, 1994). Sensation seeking involves risk-taking behavior by definition in most situations. Research demonstrates that laterborns are more risk-oriented, engaging in more dangerous activities than firstborns (Sulloway, 1996). The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between birth order and sensation seeking personality. It also examined if sensation seeking is mediated in part by gender, parental acceptance/rejection, Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and/or ethnicity. The sample consisted of one hundred and fifty hundred male and female undergraduate college students (ages 14–61). Participants completed the Sensation Seeking Scale - Form V (SSS-V; Zuckerman, Eysenck, & Eysenck, 1978), the Parental-Acceptance Questionnaire - Control (PARQ-Control; Rohner, 1997), and a survey measuring demographic information including birth order and any prior diagnoses of ADHD. Results did not reveal any relationship between birth order and sensation seeking. However, results did reveal significant differences in sensation seeking based on gender, with females scoring significantly higher than males on measures of sensation seeking. Also, parental neglect/indifference, aggression/hostility, rejection, and parental control did act as predictors of sensation seeking. Ethnicity contributed to differences in sensation seeking scores as well, with African Americans scoring significantly higher than Whites on measures of sensation seeking. Differences in sensation seeking in participants with ADHD could not be analyzed due to the fact that not enough participants endorsed this demographic question. This study will help to expand the literature on birth order and its effects on personality characteristics, as well as on the factors that contribute to sensation seeking. The implications of the results and suggestions for future research were discussed.