Study of defense mechanics according to the number of siblings and the order of birth

The aim of this study was to examine defense mechanisms according to number of siblings and birth order. Data of 300 participants were obtained from Diyarbakır and Antalya provinces seperately: 143 (47.7%) from Diyarbakır and 157 (52.3%) from Antalya. The mean age of the participants born between 1994 and 2000 was 1997.22 (± 1.59) years; 153 (51%) were female and 147 (49%) were male. In our study, sociodemographic data form asking gender, age, number of siblings and birth order and Defense Forms Test (SBT-40) developed by Andrews et al. (1993) were used as data collection tools. SPSS 25 version was used for data analysis. The independent samples t-test was used to determine whether there was gender differentiation between the groups; Pearson correlation analysis to look at the relationship between the number of siblings and defense mechanisms; One way analysis of variance and Bonferroni test as post hoc were used to compare defense mechanisms according to birth order. The significance level was taken as 0.05. According to the results, there is a gender differentiation between the groups. Women living in Diyarbakır have much of the primitive mechanisms compared to women living in Antalya (reflection, passive aggression, fantasy, displacement, spliting, rationalization, somatization); undoing and reaction formation as neurotic mechanisms; humor as mature mechanism. Men living in Diyarbakır use undoing as neurotic mechanism and somatization as primitive mechanism more than men living in Antalya. After the Pearson correlation analysis, which analyzed the relationship between number of siblings and defense mechanism, humor, expectation, altruism, passive aggression, expression and somatization mechanisms were positively correlated with number of siblings in Diyarbakır sample. Number of siblings were correlated negatively in humor and positively in dissociation in Antalya sample. According to one way ANOVA results of the comparison of Diyarbakır sample according to birth order, humor from mature mechanisms, reflection from primitive mechanisms and passive aggression vary according to birth order. According to the results of inter-group post-hoc analysis, first and middle born participants use humor more frequently than the last born participants. The first born participants use the reflection mechanism more frequently than the median and the last born. The first-born participants use the passive aggression mechanism more frequently than the last-born participants. According to ANOVA results regarding the comparison of Antalya sample according to birth order, altruism varies among groups. According to post-hoc analysis results, median born participants use altruism more frequently than first born. In summary, gender, number of siblings and birth order are seen as effective factors for the use of defense mechanisms. In addition, sociocultural factors have a decisive effect on the development and use of defense mechanisms based on the results obtained from the comparison of two samples.