Jeffrey Kluger's The Power Of Birth Order

In terms of Adlerian typology, "the firstborn child is frequently depicted as a leader and dominant personality who adheres to rules and established protocol," as one who enjoys structure and is more responsible (Alan 2004). They are also thought to achieve greater academic and professional success and to have higher self-esteem. "Parents tend to have higher expectations of the older child than they do of younger siblings. These expectations are often accompanied by investment of more parental time and attention in socializing the firstborn" (Kulik 2004). According to Adler, some firstborn children never recover from the

Birth Order is defined as a chronological order of siblings’ birth in the multiple birth of a family (Birth Order, 2009) Birth Order lets people know how to feel about others’ behaviour, reveals why people do what they do and shows the strategies people use (Clifford) Birth Order helps people to be able to cope with obstacles of the world and discover

For almost half a century, birth order has been viewed as key in determining individual personality traits. Psychologists such as Alton Adler and Francis Galton spearheaded research on this topic, and their conclusions are cited as references for those who support the idea. There recently have been studies conducted that strive to overturn this theory by showing how different variables can affect the results of our development. (Beck) There are those who stand by early research and support distinct groups of characteristics only being exhibited by people sharing a certain birth order. There are others; however, who oppose this idea and instead favor growth as an individual experience not limited by expectations. With two very different approaches to this matter, the question remains,

In Birth Order, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience, Matthew D. Healey, and Bruce J. Ellis set out to test specific personality traits that were potentially affiliated with the firstborn and second-born siblings within the same family, and whether birth-order effects existed, and based it off of a proposal that was presented by Frank Sulloway. Sulloway claimed that personality is influenced through certain alcoves siblings obtained to acquire parental resources. Because of this, he stated that a significant developmental challenge that the younger sibling had to overcome was finding a niche that was not already occupied by the older sibling. As a result, Healey and Ellis tested Sulloway’s claim that firstborns are more achieving

I learned from this articles that how birth order will affect every child life , I grow up with four siblings and I was the oldest one and that put a lot of responsibility on me and that affect my life and my education , when I get graduate from my high school I run into the first responsibility in my life when I found there is only one source of income and we are a family of six , I started my first job and left my school to take care of my Siblings ,after that get a second part time job in evening to help my family

Birth Order, as in the order a child is born in their family, has been a popular topic for researchers and the general public for decades. Originally it was claimed that personality was determined by birth order and even now there are many stereotypes of the firstborn being mature and driven while the youngest child is often described as wild and rebellious (Bleske-Rechek and Kelley, 2013). Nowadays researchers find birth order and personality are unrelated. Whether or not intelligence is related to birth order is not completely clear as there have been many studies supporting both sides. However, based on the newest research the prevailing attitude is that intelligence is linked with birth order. Last of all an individual’s health seems

He believed that even though siblings were raised in the similar environment, that because of their birth order they received different parenting styles which shaped their personality in distinctly different ways (121). Although, the study by Nyman did not mention the reasons behind the distinct traits, his study did acknowledge, and seemingly find, that individuals in different birth orders did have distinctive personality traits. Alder’s theory for the first born states that this child will have more leadership traits such as teaching younger siblings (123). He also said that they are more concerned with having authority (123). This matches up to the results of the study because the male eldest born was seen to have a dominant aggressive trait which could be paired up with seeking authority and leadership. Also the eldest female in the study was seen as a nurturer which would go perfectly with leadership and teaching. Adler believed that the second born are competitive and ambitious (123). The study did not have the element to choose second born but they did have middle child which is equivalent to Alder’s theory of the second born. The Middle child male child for the study was given the traits of ambitious/achiever and the female middle child was given outgoing and friendly (58). Both traits given to the middle birth order line up perfectly with the ambitious personality that Adler suggested for the second born. The youngest child, according to Adler are typically over achievers (124). However the reverse can be true if the youngest child is too pampered and they can become dependent on others (124). The results for the study for the youngest child in the birth order did not seem to match up as well as the others. The results for these were that the male was outgoing and friendly and the youngest female is caring and

I was the second/last child born in my family. I feel that birth order has had a true effect on my behavior and my personality. It’s very easy to compare me with my brother. My brother is the oldest. He strives to achieve his goal and , as of right now, he’s doing a pretty well job with striving. Comparing him with me, I am more of a social person. I like to hangout with my friends and be social. I am also more humorous than many people may think. He is more of a serious person. Also, he sometimes worries about me, only because he wants me to make sure I achieve my goals just as he is trying to achieve his. Achieving goals isn’t just something my brother does just because he is first born. An Iranian culture is very goal-oriented. My dad always told me that if I want to pursue a career as a lawyer or a doctor, I must do what I can to get to that goal. Since then, I have been interning at the Milton City Court and Milton Police Department to help me get to my goal to be a lawyer.

Alfred Adler who was a psychologist known for his theorization of how birth order can affect your personality. He stated, “since the oldest receives responsibility and the youngest can be spoiled, children in the middle can feel like they don’t receive any attention at all. They fight for significance and privilege”. The middle child or the second born often develop the competitive nature, making natural entrepreneurs later in their lives. For me, Alfred Adler’s theory is one hundred percent correct. Reasons of the theory of birth order being correct is me being born the second child in my family has changed my personality to be less of a caring person and to only work in order to succeed. My parents became a bit more lenient with me after my sister went on to college.

For a period, birth order was refuted and phased out from serious study. However, as a result of Sulloway’s release of his own studies, birth order theories gained respect once again (Paulhus, Trapnell, & Chen, 1999). Frank Sulloway follows Adler’s theory in the sense that he also believed sibling differences attributed to birth order resulted from competition between siblings. Sulloway (1996) held that siblings utilize differences in size and strength to overpower younger siblings. These younger siblings in turn resorted to counterstrategies in order to hold their ground against older siblings. Such a discussion is certainly reminiscent to Adler’s own speculations.

This study was conducted to support Alfred Alder’s birth order theory in regards to personality characteristics. The hypothesis that first born children are more responsible, successful, and obedient than their younger siblings, while last born children are more manipulative, outgoing and rebellious were supported by these results. These findings are similar to Paulhus, Trapnell, & Chen (1999) study, results of the study indicated firstborns were nominated by their siblings as most conscientious as well as most achieving and later born children were more frequently nominated as most liberal, agreeable, and rebellious. Another study supporting the hypothesis is a study conducted by Zweigenhaft and Von Ammon (2000). In the study it was hypothesized that later born children were more rebellious then firstborns. To do this they examined the birth order of a group of U.S. college students who had been arrested for engaging in civil disobedience in a labor dispute. Later born children were more likely than firstborns to have been arrested. This provides evidence that later born children are more likely than firstborns to be rebellious.

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

A family consists of two parents and three children. The first born is a perfectionist and does fairly well in school. The second-born is rebellious and yet extremely sociable. Finally, the baby of the family is always in the spotlight and extremely charming. Another family with two parents and three children notices similar qualities in their children. It is no coincidence that these children have similar personality patterns. Every birth order has a certain personality that is caused by the influence of parents, siblings, or their mental standards for themselves.

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

Throughout the years, researchers have come to believe that birth order is an important factor in our lives, almost as important as gender or even genetics. This ties back to the old Nature vs Nurture theory, where it is not only our biology that defines who we are and what we do, it is a mixture of both our environment and our genes that help us develop as a whole. Whether you are an only child, a first born, last born, or somewhere in between, some researchers have found that this is important in defining your character, your values, goal orientation, and life successes. Psychology has gone through periods of accepting these