Birth Order Research Paper

First born children who later have younger siblings may have it the worst. These children are given excessive attention and pampering by their parents until that fateful day when the little brother or sister arrives. Suddenly they are no longer the center of attention and fall into the shadows wondering why everything changed. They are left feeling inferior, questioning their importance in the family, and trying desperately to gain back the attention they suddenly lost. The first born child can become “problem children, neurotics, criminals, drunkards, and perverts” (Cloninger, 2008). However, on the flip side, the first born usually are the peacemakers of the family even though they are a pampered and spoiled child.

Firstborn children in families develop a higher I.Q. than their siblings. The New York Times used a study that found that the average difference in I.Q. was three points higher in firstborn than closest sibling. Even though it is only three points it is significant according to researchers. While three points may not seem like a huge differences, experts say that “it can be a tipping point for some people- the difference between a high B average and a low A” (Carey, 2007). The results also show that it was because of family dynamics and not biological factors. In the study, analyze the data of Norwegian men born from 1967-1976 and found that firstborn had three percent higher than second child and four percent higher than third child. The

Whether you are the first-born child, middle child, youngest child, or only child, you each have individual traits that make you who you are. According to birth order research, the order at which you were born in your family determines your characteristics. I happen to be the only child. The majority of the birth order research on only children describes me, however there is one characteristic that does not accurately describe me.

Whether it 's noticeable or not, the way in which siblings are born can have massive impacts on their lives. Many characteristics set aside by the concept of birth order are known to us already, such as a parent liking one sibling more than the other, parents being more lenient with one sibling, etc. We are able to pick out a person as being the only child or the youngest of the bunch just by talking to them for even a couple of minutes. With this in mind, it’s reasonable to believe that the order you’re born in shows in your personality. But surprisingly, it can also affect how you live and prosper throughout life. This idea that birth order controls how you are going to end up can be seen in the screen adaptations to Tennessee Williams’ plays Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Streetcar Named Desire. Gooper and Blanche, the eldest siblings in the movies respectively, are shown as taking on the burden of their families whereas Brick and Stella, the youngest siblings in the movies respectively, seem to be able to do as they please. Over the course of these two movies, we are able to see these characters fit into their stereotyped birth order characteristics, while also seeing their growth in either out of them or deeper into what they’ve become because of it.

Even though youngest siblings always try to do what they can to not be compared to their siblings, being the youngest does not always have perks. We do not get as much attention like our older siblings do and we sometimes do not feel the same love the parents give to their first-born.

Research in the past has shown that firstborns are more successful and higher achievers than later borns. Firstborns are known to be movers and shakers of the world. They are natural leaders, well-organised, reliable, conscientious, achievers, pursues excellence, perfectionist, driven, organised, scholarly, logical, compliant, aggressive. It is unsurprising to find many firstborns who hold leadership roles and successful positions in various work fields. They are most likely to climb the corporate ladder as top managers and leaders of their company. In fact, the most number of Presidents, Chief Executive Officers, Astronauts and Nobel Peace Prize winners are firstborns (Leman, 2008).

As other studies have shown (Roberts & Damian, 2015), birth order had little change in GPA, but still do affect it . They tested 377,000 high school students to come to their final conclusion which is, firstborns usually have a 1-2 point higher IQ than later borns. The studies also show that children with less siblings, usually are from wealthy families who have the money to pay for a better education and tutors which can increase their IQ drastically. The conclusions Roberts and Damian made were, birth order made such a small difference in IQ and GPA that later borns it's had no practical relevance to people's everyday lives. The difference in first and later borns is “statistically significant but meaningless” said Damian (2015).

The birth order effect has proved to be a highly debated topic among psychologists and scientists for many years. Magazine pages are flooded with articles about how your birth order can help you pick a spouse or a career. Hundreds of books have been written about the way that birth order affects your personality and intelligence levels. There are many articles written on parenting websites suggesting the best parenting styles to use depending on the birth order of a child. Is the birth order effect a significant factor in who we are or just an elaborate, long-standing hoax? Birth order is the numerical order you are born in relative to your siblings (Moore and Cox, 1990). When a couple has a child, that child will be considered an only child until another child is born. When this second child is born that couple now has a firstborn and a baby of the family. If that couple goes on to have yet another child the first child remains the firstborn, the second child moves to the position of middle child, and the new child is now the baby of the family. The birth order effect emphasizes

As the family jester many of the famous youngest children are comedians. People such as Drew Carey, Jim Carey, Eddie Murphy, Rosie O'Donnell, and Whoopee Goldberg are all the youngest in their family.

Jim Carrey and Eddie Murphy are perfect examples of the “baby brother” of the family. They are often given all the attention, therefore requiring such as they grow older. Less is usually required of younger siblings as they age from babies to adolescents, this provides for a relatively stress-free youth. Babies of the family as adults, more often than not, tend to be entertainers, artists, architects, and salesmen. They have much more freedom than their older siblings because usually by the last child, parents are more comfortable, laid-back, and lenient than they were with the first and even second. This freedom as a child generally transfers into a creativeness and independence as adults, hence artists and architects. In parents’ eyes, the youngest child has a certain aura that tends to be extremely persuading. As they grow up they rarely lose touch with this birth order gift, which is why many successful salespeople happen to be of last born

After reading many articles over birth order of siblings I find that the relationship between siblings and the personality of the siblings differ from whether they were born first or later. Jeffrey Kluger’s “The Power of Birth Order” states many ideas and facts on the future and personality development of the siblings. While “The Sibling Effect” by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman give a good example on how birth order causes one sibling to act in a certain way. I find it intriguing on how much birth order impacts sibling relationships.

The authors explain how the firstborn child experiences the “only child life” and is centre of attention until the second-born child arrives. Due to this, firstborns are more likely to be more conscientious and socially dominant, but less agreeable and open to new experiences than lastborns. This can also occur because youngest siblings were more likely to feel inadequate compared to eldest siblings. With the strength being put on these subject matters, the authors fail to emphasize how middle children are impacted by birth order and if they would score similar to the firstborn, lastborn, or exhibit traits from both. Moreover, the authors de-emphasize the role of the parents on the impact of the child’s behavior. Throughout the journal, the authors make the assumption that families have a firstborn and a lastborn, and do not discuss personality traits of single children or middle children. In regards to bias in the journal, I believe that there isn’t any because the authors use evidence from trials to show the relationship between firstborns and lastborns and how this can lead to academic

This is quite interesting and makes me wonder if my older sister ever felt "dethroned" when I was born. Furthermore if birth order really had an substantial affect on an individuals personality would a first born be more conscientious, structured, and more of a leader. While the youngest Im guessing would be attention-seeker, dependent, and overall a literal baby. Also where does that leave the middle

Middle children are often left feeling like the odd one out, not having the attachment to their parents that their older sibling has but also not being the baby of the family, who gets the attention heaped on them. This often provokes attention-seeking behavior and can lead to depression or even paranoia in later life (Udall).

Birth order and personality have been a topic of discussion throughout the years with many well known psychologist like Freud and Adler doing research on them. Some research that has been conducted shows there is no correlation between birth order and personality. Then there is other research that states in fact birth order does affect personality and intelligence. I believe birth order shows distinctive characteristics in regard to firstborns and their achievement level in comparison to their younger siblings.