Abstract
Over the past several years, interest in the relationship between siblings and athletic performance has increased (Davis & Meyer, 2008). Athletes become more prepared for higher levels of competition when competing in sport with siblings and view competition against siblings different than competing against non-siblings (Davis & Meyer, 2008). Currently, there is a limited amount of research in the athletic area evaluating how birth order affects sport attainment. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the frequency of ordinal positions in varsity athletes. It was hypothesized that later born siblings may have an advantage in their sport development, and therefore, reach higher levels within sport. Therefore, we would expect to see a greater representation at the varsity level. A sample of 87 varsity athletes (male n=44, female n=43) from various sports at a southern Ontario university were surveyed. Participants answered questions regarding their birth order, sport participation with siblings, motivation to participate, and perceived sport influence by siblings. Participants were classified as youngest, oldest, or in the middle of their siblings. Using a chi-square, anticipated equal representation was found for oldest siblings (x2 = 0.31, p=.90), an over representation was found for youngest siblings (x2 = 12.45, p<.05), and an under representation was found for middle children (x2 = 8.82, p<.05). Interestingly, no varsity athletes were found to be only children. The findings of this study suggest preliminary evidence that a birth order effect exists in sport. Future studies are need to determine the external validity of these findings and explain why the phenomenon occurs.
