A Comparison of Certain Language Skills in First- and Second-Born Children

Possible differences in the development of language form, content, or use skills have been suggested in research with respect to birth order and sex. However, no studies have been completed which control the chronological age of the subjects in order to determine whether significant differences do exist, e.g. when children enter school. If such differences do exist, prevention strategies could be identified and implemented. This study included twenty first- and sixteen second-born children, ranging in age from five years two months to six years six months, beginning kindergarten. Participants were individually given the Test of Language Development- Primary, and the Test of Pragmatics Skill. Raw score measures obtained from the testing were subjected to analyses of variance. No significant differences among the groups were found in language form and content. Some tendencies were found to exist in use of language with respect to both birth order and sex. A significant difference was found in one aspect of language use. Second-born children were more likely to acknowledge greetings appropriately than first-born children. The implications of these findings are discussed