The Internalizing and Externalizing Behavioral Problems in Children: Birth Order and Age Spacing

This causal-comparative study aimed to compare the children’s internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems in terms of birth order and age spacing. Five hundred and thirty six elementary students and their parents were selected by multistage random cluster sampling from city of Yazd. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) and a demographic information form were used in the study. The results of the two-way analysis of variance indicated that the age spacing between siblings and birth order had significant impact on externalizing behavioral problems. The children with under two years age space had most problems of externalization. Furthermore, the fourth-born child onward and the firstborn child had the highest scores of externalizing problems, respectively. The findings suggested that 2-3 years of age space was appropriate and the behavioral problems of children in families with three children were lower than other groups.