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First‐Name Desirability and Adjustment: Self‐Satisfaction, Others' Ratings, and Family Background
Author(s) -
Twenge Jean M.,
Manis Melvin
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1998.tb01652.x
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology , social desirability , sibling , identity (music) , association (psychology) , developmental psychology , physics , acoustics , psychotherapist
The association between undesirable first names and poor psychological adjustment has been studied by several investigators. However, it is not clear if self‐ratings, commonness, or others' ratings of name desirability are most important in this relationship. In addition, family background might influence both psychological adjustment and first names. In a sample of undergraduates and their same‐sex siblings ( n = 294), self‐satisfaction with first names predicted adjustment more consistently than did name commonness and others' ratings of name desirability. Using a paired‐siblings design to control for family background, the sibling with higher scores on adjustment was also more satisfied with his or her name and received higher name desirability ratings from others. Results are discussed in terms of identity and the looking‐glass self.