Effects of siblings on preschool children's behavioral flexibility

The present study explores the influence of sibling's presence on children' s social adjustment, measured by the behavioral flexibility of 83 five-year old children from Cadiz (Spain). The variables tested were a) mother's edu cational level, b) mother's work outside of the home, and c) children's kin dergarten attendance. The results showed the necessity of considering furth er variables of family background in order to create a model that explains the effect of the number of siblings on children's social adjustment. Thus, the presence of the mothers at home (who do not work outside of the home) positively influences the social adjustment only of the first born and/or o nly children. However, in the later born children this fact has a smaller e ffect because of the presence of older siblings. Independent of mother's ed ucational level, kindergarten attendance favors the social adjustment of on ly children.