A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY OF BIRTH-ORDER, HELP-SEEKING AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

Recent studies have suggested an association between birth order and p sychopathology. However, the association remains unclear due to a lack of consideration of the confounding effects of family size. At age se ven years the family size and birth order of children from a large coh ort of New Zealand children were examined in relation to parental help seeking for behavioural and emotional problems, and the development o f DSM-III (American Psychiatric Association, 1980) disorder in pre-ado lescence and adolescence. Neither the child's gender, birth order nor family size were associated with parental help seeking or the prevalen ce of DSM-III disorder in pre-adolescence at age 11. In adolescence at age 15, however, significantly more girls, first-borns and children f rom small families had DSM-III disorder, but the interactions between these factors were not significant. In particular, these associations were found with internalizing disorders. The appropriateness of furthe r studies of birth order in relation to psychopathology is discussed.