One of the more controversial stereotypes that have stuck with most people is the role the order of one’s birth has on his or her personality (and life). Whether a person is a first born, middle child, baby or only child seems to have a lot of assumptions about how that individual behaves and responds to life. The questions remains, what difference does birth order make, and how true is it that birth order can even have an impact? Looking at the various studies regarding birth order, most of which have looked at or used the example of the Adlerian concept of birth order to suggest intelligence and personality type, the following paper will work to better understand if birth order makes a significant difference in the outcome of one’s life.
“Psychologists like Leman believe the secret to sibling personality differences lies in birth order -- whether you're a first-, middle-, last-born, or only child -- and how parents treat their child because of it.”(Voo 2016, para. 1). One of many psychologists who have been responsible for the stereotypes of birth order as indicators of personality types in the study of the subject. Typically there are very particular traits that can be recognized about the first child, the middle child, the youngest child, and the only child (Voo 2016). The first born tend to have characteristics of being reliable, conscientious, structured, cautious, controlling, and achievers (Voo 2016). Middle children tend to be people-pleasers, somewhat rebellious, thrive on friendships, have large social circles, and are peacemakers (Voo 2016). The youngest are generally fun loving, uncomplicated, manipulative, outgoing, attention-seekers, and self-centered (Voo 2016). Finally, the only child is one that tends to be mature for their age, perfectionists, conscientious, diligent, and have leadership quality (Voo 2016).
Sigmund Freud’s colleague, Alfred Adler, recognized that firstborn children tend to feel “dethroned” when younger siblings become a part of the family, which makes the eldest born rather “neurotic and self-centered, yet prone to leadership” (Beck 2015).The youngest child is often opposite of the eldest in that he or she is much more “spoiled, sociable, independent, rebellious, yet a bit healthier” (Beck 2015). The implications on birth or order are powerful in that they suggest that the individual is pre-determined to turn out or embrace particular qualities whether he or she chooses to do so. Based on this theory, there are limitations placed on all people regardless of their birth order. Does science really have the answers to confirm this theory?
In a study published in “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,” done by researchers at the University of Leipzig and Johannes Gutenberg University, both located in Germany,20,000 adults from the U.S., UK, and Germany were compared based on being a part of one family with variations in birth order that may determine specific characteristic traits (Beck 2015). The study did not find and major correlation with the birth order and its impact on “extraversion, emotional stability, agreeableness, conscientiousness, or imagination, a subdimension of openness,” (Beck 2015). In other studies examined recently, such as one published in the “Journal of Research in Personality,” researchers examined 377,000 high-school students from the United States, still not finding much proof of personality differences as a result of birth order (Beck 2015).
One of the things that researchers use to try to understand this claim is through the “Big Five personality traits, which include openness, agreeableness, neuroticism, conscientiousness, and extraversion” (Beck 2015). According to this measurement style, first borns should be more conscientious than later born children, more neurotic, along being more extroverted (Beck 2015). Those born in any birth order after that should be much more agreeable and socially extroverted (Beck 2015). What they found in the study was that firstborns generally are much more mindful and controlling, less sociable, yet more agreeable and not as neurotic as other birth orders children (Beck 2015).
Assuming the only thing that researchers have claimed about birth order is a correlation with personality type; however, there seems to be a claim of intelligence to also be associated with birth order. The idea finds that the first borns tend to have a higher IQ than his or her siblings. Based on the “confluence model (Zajonc, 2001; Zajonc & Markus, 1975) the ordinal position of each child in the family determines the level of intellectual stimulation available in early years and thus, their later intelligence” (Damien 2015,p.97). Some theories even suggest there is link to order of birth and intelligence based on gestational factors as maternal antibody levels increase with additional pregnancies possibly leading to alter the brain in a manner that lowers intelligence levels in children born later (Gualtieri and Hicks 1985; Damien 2015).
Add to the dynamic the blended family and even more complexity will arise. For example in “blended families, if younger siblings are the genetic offspring of both parents, but older half-siblings are not, the younger siblings are likely to receive higher-quality parental investment and thus be more likely to act as firstborns” (Sulloway, 1996; Damien 2015, p. 97).
In terms of gender, there seems to be an affiliation with firstborn being more “susceptible to parental influence and to filling the more ‘‘traditional’’ niche by being a responsible, dominating role-model” (Damien 2015). Perhaps one of the reasons for this assumption or recognition of trait correlation has to do with the way society has always placed a greater burden of responsibility on the eldest male child (Damien 2015). Generally when parents grow older or may no longer be around, it is the job of the eldest son to take over the family affairs.
These studies and assumptions exist, but are not empirically convincing. Whitbourne (2013) suggests that methods are everything when studying birth order and personality. A researcher named Stewart “distinguished between “actual” birth order, or ABO (the numerical rank order into which you are born in your family of origin) and “psychological” birth order, or PBO (self-perceived position in the family)” (Whitbourne 2013). Too many deviations can interrupt the determination of birth order and its psychological influence on personality or intelligence because numerous reason, such as illness of one child, size of family, and degree of separation between siblings” can influence the results (Whitbourne 2013).
One’s role in the family cannot be based on just age and each person is born to play the role that they end up playing in life (Whitbourne 2013). “The Psychological Birth Order Inventory (PBOI) developed in 1991 by a research team including Stewart contains items to assess all birth order positions in the family that individuals rate on an agree-disagree scale” (Whitbourne 2013). Based on this model of studying birth order, there was no solid link regarding intelligence level was found. Not to mention, often times whatever is suggested to an individuals will highly influence the way they respond, therefore if an eldest born takes a test feeling he or she is very intelligent then they are likely to perform better on the test than a younger sibling who thinks they are not that smart. However, according to a study done by Julia Rohrer, a graduate student in psychology at University of Leipzig in Germany says that besides IQ, there were no strong connections between birth order and character, which indicates that IQ may have something to do with birth order (Basu, 2015). The findings from this particular study are still not strong enough to settle on the impact of birth order on any aspect of how one’s life is determined nor evidence of birth order matchmaking being a realistic way to decide who to date or marry (Schipani 2010).
The evidence from the data discussed does not seem to imply and concrete evidence to believe that birth order is responsible for determining intelligence and personality. Sure, there may be some evidence of links that encourage a personality type, but it cannot be considered empirically conclusive. Not to mention there are other factors such as family size that also play a tremendous role in the outcome of how each child behaves that has not been discussed in the paper, which is incredibly revealing (Hartshorne 2010). In conclusion, it is best to embrace and grow one’s best assets while working on improving areas that one is unsatisfied rather than being stuck in one placed based on questionable scientific evidence. So if you are a fist born or last born, you can still choose what types of choices you want to make and how you may want to go about your life.
Works Cited
Basu, Tanya. "How Birth Order Affects Personality Type." Time. Time, 2015. Web. 11
Apr. 2016.
Beck, Julie. "Birth Order Is Basically Meaningless." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media
Company, 2015. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
Damien, Rodica Ioana. "The Associations of Birth Order with Personality and
Intelligence in a Representative Sample of U.S. High School Students." Journal
of Research in Personality 58 (2015): 96-105. Science Direct. Web. 10 Apr.
2016.
Hartshorne, Joshua. “How Birth Order Affects Your Personality.” Scientific American.
Web. 10 Apr. 2016.
Schipani, Denise. "How Does Birth Order Affect Relationships?" Woman's Day. 2010.
Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
Voo, Jocelyn. "How Birth Order Affects Your Child's Personality and Behavior."
Parents.com. 2016. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
Whitbourne, Susan Krauss. “Is Birth Order Destiny?” Psychology Today. 2013. Web. 11
Apr. 2016
