The relationships between birth order, parental attention, and academic achievement

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between birth order, parental attention, and academic achievement among students in Faculty of Education, UiTM Shah Alam. Henceforth, the objective of this study is to compare the academic achievement between people of different birth order, to compare the parental attention between people of different birth order, to examine the relationship between birth order and academic achievement, and to examine the relationship between birth order and parental attention. The basic research design for this study is Correlational Research. The target population of this study is TESL students in Faculty of Education, UiTM Shah Alam. The finding suggest that firstly, among all of the birth order group the only child had the highest mean CGPA score, followed by the eldest child, the last child, the middle child, and lastly the second child. However, one-way ANOVA test suggests that there are no significance differences of mean CGPA between the groups. Secondly, it was found that the last child had the highest mean parental attention score, followed by the eldest child, the only child, the middle child, and the second child. However, one-way ANOVA again suggest that there are no significance differences of mean parental attention score between the groups. Thirdly, it was found that there is a weak negative relationship between birth order and academic achievement. Fourthly, it was found that there is little or no association between birth order and parental attention.