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Birth order and sibship size of medical school applicants

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Summary

In a study including nearly 2400 medical school applicants, successful and unsuccessful candidates were compared as regards birth order and family size. Both groups had a significantly higher incidence of first-borns than would be expected, with the accepted group showing this trend to a somewhat greater degree. Analysis shows that minority and female applicants were, in great measure, responsible for these differences. The relative advantage of the first-born and disadvantage of the last-born as regards medical school admission was found to increase with family size. Data from a second medical school corroborated these findings.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health Science, College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, N. J., USA

    William A. Layman & Andrew Saueracker

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  1. William A. Layman
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  2. Andrew Saueracker
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Layman, W.A., Saueracker, A. Birth order and sibship size of medical school applicants. Soc Psychiatry 13, 117–123 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00583869

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00583869

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