Interpersonal relation: connections between hypercompetitiveness and birth order among undergraduates

Abstract

Over the years there has been a growing interest in human relationships’ and the problem of human relationships. Humans are inherently equipped with social instinct that allows them to follow and maintain relationship. This research was conducted to investigate the influence of hypercompetitiveness and birth order on interpersonal relation. Hypotheses were generated from Karen Horney and Alfred Adler s’ theories about hypercompetitiveness and birth order respectively. Birth order was defined in terms of three groups only: first, middle and last born. Participants (N= 300) with mean age of 25.86 (SD 5.63) for male and 25.56 (5.52) for female were students from Yaba College of Technology and University of Lagos. The instruments used were Hypercompetitive attitude scale by Ryckman, Hammer, Kaczor & Gold (1990) with 26 items and Index of peer relation by Hudson, Nuris, Daley & Newsome, (1986) with 25 items. A cross sectional survey was used in collecting data using accidental sampling techniques. Hypercompetitiveness has a significant negative correlation with interpersonal relation (r=-0.215*, at p, <0.05). Middle born were not more hypercompetitive than participants in other birth positions but had poor interpersonal relation. Explanations were proffered for the findings based on theoretical and empirical literature. The study recommends that parents as the main provider of interpersonal relationship; therefore they should realize the importance of equal parental investment among their children and ensure, good parent-child relationship and proper coercive management practices while avoiding any form of preferential treatment. These will assist the young ones in building good social relationship.