Essay about How Birth Order Affects One’s Personality

Each child has his or her own personality. Typically the firstborn is a natural leader, while the last is always the baby, but what about the overlooked middle child? The middle child can sometimes feel lost in the crowd when it comes to family dynamics. They crave their parent’s attention and are willing to do anything to believe they have it, but immediately close up when it comes to conflict, they become people pleasers. They will do anything to make their parents, or others, happy. This makes the middle child a skilled peacemaker and negotiator (Varma, 2013). They are amazing listeners because of the fact they hate conflict,

In the texts “That That Elusive Birth Order and What it Means for You,” and “How Birth Order Affects Your Personality,” the authors give their interpretation on the importance of birth order in siblings. The author of the first text, Susan Whitbourne, stresses the unimportance of birth order. Conversely, Joshua Hartshorne, the author of the second text, says that birth order is significant to personality, but there just has not been enough evidence until recent studies.

In “that Elusive Birth Order Effect and What it Means for You,” the author, Susan Krauss Whitbourne, explains that she does not believe your “actual birth order,” really affects your behavior or position in your family. “Your actual birth order need not have the same impact on you as the birth order you believe you have,” (Whitbourne ll 25,26). “Actual” birth order, or ABO, is the numerical rank order in which you are born into your family or origin and “psychological birth order, or PBO, is your own perception on your position in the family.

According to Alfred Adler, the birth order of the children in a family will largely affect how they age and the personalities which they will form. First borns enter the family as the only child. They revel in the love and full attention from their parents, that is, until the second baby comes along. Suddenly, first borns are dethroned and lose the undivided attention they are used to receiving. As a result, they tend to develop a strong sense of responsibility and protectiveness over their siblings at an early age, which often leads to them becoming authoritative adults. Moreover, when there are multiple children in the family, parents will set high

Some say that people are just who they are, that a person no matter their origin or upbringing will end up exactly how they are and ultimately who they were meant to become, but what if they were wrong? Why am I loud and vivacious, yet my younger sister is quiet and shy, and my brother is more protective over my youngest sister and ignores me? What makes anyone the person that they are? Sure, the things that happen at school mold people, but the real developments happen at home. An individual's personality is solely based upon the order and the timing of birth in relation to their siblings, if any. A well renowned psychologist, Dr. Kevin Leman employs effective elements of rhetoric in his book, The Birth Order Book: Why You Are the Way You

The second-born has a lot that goes against them, for example, they can go through something called de-identification. Krugar writes that de-identification happens when a sibling sees what their older sibling does and proceeds to do the opposite in order to stand out, so if a first-born were to make good grades and get a job the second-born may go down the slacker route in order to receive attention. Also, second-borns tend to act out or rebel when the parent compare the second-born to the first-born, for they don’t like to be compared to their older sibling, but who likes to be compared to another person all the time anyway

Almost all of us are familiar of the Birth Order theory that Alfred Adler presented almost a century ago. Adler theorized that our personalities are hugely influenced by our chronological place in the family because

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.

CNN news examines the theory saying, “A recent survey by CareerBuilder.com found that workers who were the firstborn child in their families were more likely to earn $100,000 or more annually compared to their siblings. The oldest tend to pursue vocations that require higher education, like medicine, engineering or law. Firstborns from the CareerBuilder.com survey reported working in jobs in government, engineering, pharmacy and science” (Zupek). The strict rule enforced by parents and competition between siblings instill pressure and determination to be better. Moreover, the leadership role that the older sibling practices in early life is also implemented in their careers as they generally exert themselves to jobs that are more prestigious. Ohio State’s Frederick T.L. Leong conducted a study along with many other doctors and researchers who found that among, “119 undergraduate students majoring in a wide variety of academic fields at a Midwestern university; one of the strongest findings was the fact that only children and first-born children tended to have more cognitive and analytical interests, while later-borns were more artistic and oriented to the outdoors” (Birth). Different sets of rules and demands are implemented on different siblings which contributes to contrasting personalities and interests of children. These varying traits carryover into their adult life and play a role in the career they

Only children, though they have some of the same characteristics as firstborn, will at times be self-centered from the outpouring of undivided attention received by parents. Also, because only children do not grow up in environments with other siblings, they usually never learn to share or overcome family conflict. Most become unforgiving of themselves and others and also develop selfishness and anger from being the only kid in the family to please parents. Very high expectations do usually come from parents, which put extreme pressure and stress on an only child's life. Along with first-borns, only children are seen leading in the outside world and succeeding in

The object of this experiment was to determine whether or not birth order actually affected personalities and to see if oldest/youngest stereotypes were true. Oldest children are said to be bossy and rule followers while youngest tend to be ambitious and outgoing. To find out whether or not these assumptions were true, ten people were asked a series of questions about oldest and youngest children and what it was like growing up.

My Birth Order is definitely the most significant factor that has affected my personality. In contrast to many other only children who came to be extroverts as a result of being alone, I became very much introverted because of how comfortable I became with being alone in comparison to large groups of people. I became imaginative as I learned how to entertain myself by reading books, drawing, and even at times playing board games against myself. I like to think that as an only child, the amount of time I have spent alone with my thoughts has allowed me to better understand myself. In addition to that, I spent the majority of my childhood spending time with and talking with adults as I was the only kid my age in my neighborhood and the majority

Birth order is defined as the order children are born within a family. The order is separated into different categories including first-born, middle child, youngest child, and/or only child. The pattern sticks to a tri-level repetitive cycle. If there are more than three children within a family, then the pattern starts over from first-born, middle child, and then again to the youngest. The research all started with Alfred Adler. He began his research by looking at the order children were born in, and how it affected their personalities and development. Today, research has looked at many more factors than just personality and child development. Other characteristics that may be affected by

Although there are a number of scientists supporting for the idea of being the firstborns is beneficial and advantageous, recent studies assert that the effects of birth order no longer are significant. The children’s intelligence depends on many factors such as family size, child spacing, prenatal factors, gestational factors, not only birth order

The birth order position can have a profound effect on the character development of the child. Within the birth order position is the only child, the oldest, and the youngest. According to Adlerian Psychology, the only child makes up the majority of the patients. They are pampered and made to believe that they are the most beautiful, intelligent, and most important person on earth. It is important to teach an only child courage in order