Relationship of number of siblings, family type and index of self-esteem in UNL students

Abigail Cheesman | University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Home Introduction Methods Results Discussion Tables Figures References

Results

Two three-factor Between Groups ANOVA with EMMEANS follow-ups were conducted for these analyses. For the first analysis, the dependent variable looked at was the rate of seriousness of current or most current relationship compared to number of siblings, ISE (self-esteem index) and family type. For the second analysis, the dependent variable looked at was the number of times moved as a child compared to number of siblings, ISE, and family type.

For the first analysis, there was significant three-way interaction, F(2, 507)=3.088, Mse=4.001, p=.046, which can be seen in Table 1. For individuals with a two siblings or less and a two parent family type, there was an increase in the rating of the seriousness of a relationship when comparing low self-esteem to medium self-esteem. However, for individuals with two siblings or less and a two parent family type, there was no difference in the rating of seriousness of the relationship at when comparing low to high self-esteem or medium to high self-esteem. Also, for individuals with the other family type and two siblings or less, there was no difference in the rating of the seriousness of a relationship for any comparisons of self-esteem levels. For individuals with 3 siblings or more, there was no difference in the ratings of the seriousness of relationships when compared with family type and low to medium self-esteem, low to high self-esteem or medium to high self-esteem.

For the number of siblings and self-esteem two way, there was not a significant interaction, F(2, 507)=.799, p=.450. For the number of siblings and family type two way, there was also not a significant interaction, F(1,507)=.003, Mse=4.001, p=.953. For the self-esteem and family type comparison, there was not a significant interaction, F(2, 507)=.247, Mse=4.001, p=.781. There was no significant interaction for the main effect of number of siblings, family type, or self-esteem.

For the second analysis, there was a significant three-way interaction, F (2, 515)=5.067, Mse=7.343, p=.007, as can be seen in Table 2. For individuals with two siblings or less and had a two parent family type, there was no difference in the number of times moved as a child when compared with low to medium self-esteem, low to high self-esteem, or medium to high self-esteem. However, for individuals with two siblings or less and had the other family type, for low self-esteem compared to medium self-esteem and low self-esteem compared to high self-esteem there was a decrease in the number of times moved as a child. Individuals with med self-esteem compared to high self-esteem in this group had no difference in the number of times moved. For individuals with 3 siblings or more, there was no difference in the number of times moved as a child when compared with family type and low self-esteem compared to medium self-esteem, low self-esteem to high self-esteem, and medium self-esteem to high self-esteem.

For the sibling number and self-esteem comparison there was a significant interaction, F(2, 515)=3.882, Mse=7.343, p=.021, as can be seen in Figure 1. This effect was descriptive for individuals with two siblings or less who had low to medium self-esteem as well as low compared to high self-esteem as it found that the number of times moved as a child increased. However, this effect was misleading for all individuals with 3 or more siblings and individuals with medium to high self-esteem who had two siblings as there was no difference in the number of times moved as a child for the sibling number and different levels of self-esteem.

For the number of siblings and family type comparison there was a significant interaction, F(1,515)= 4.252, p=.040, as can be seen in Figure 2. This effect was descriptive for all levels of sibling number and family type such that the number of times moved as a child increased for higher number of siblings and identifying the other family type.

There was no significant main effect for either sibling number or self-esteem however there was a significant main effect for family type F (1,515)=58.737, Mse=7.343, p=.000. The main effect showed a relationship between an individual identifying as having the other family type and having higher rates of moving as a child.