The Effect Of Birth Order On Personality

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

After reading “That Elusive Birth Order Effect and What it Means for You” by Susan Krauss Whitbourne and “How Birth Order Effects Your Personality” by Joshua K. Hartshorne, I have come to the conclusion that both authors view birth order differently. Whitbourne was against the idea that birth order affects a person’s life. She does not believe that myths about birth order should be accepted as fact. Hartshorne, on the other hand, was for the idea that birth order affects a person’s life.

If researchers hypothesis are supported and birth order affects first born children then, they will score high in Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, low in Openness to Experience, and Extraversion. Middle children score low in Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and high in Neuroticism. While youngest children will score high in Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Extraversion and low Conscientiousness. Current research will support the fact that birth order certainly plays a role as it pertains to personality and findings by Saroglou & Fiasse (2002) as well as Healy & Ellis (2006) supports the fact that parents expectations and treatment shape a child’s temperament.

There has been significant research over the past century in regards to birth order, however some conflicting results have been reported. A few common items have been found. Primarily, that first borns enjoy a more favorable position within the family as opposed to later borns (Kalliopuska, 1984). This is based on the variable of maternal warmth, which is how much time a parent spends with their child (Smith, 2014). On average parents spend 3,600 more hours with first and only born children as opposed to the ones who are born later (Smith, 2014). ) This could be the factor that is noted as the perceived maternal warmth that impacts the idea of the “more favorable position.” Another key finding is that first born and only children tend

Bleske-Rechek & Kelley (2014) have noticed that past research on the link between birth order and personality seems to be biased in that data has been collected by only self-raters, which forces the single member to compare other members of family in relation to themselves. Bleske-Rechek & Kelley argue that birth order effects on personality operate within the family-rearing environment, thus individual differences in personalities between firstborn and laterborn siblings must be measured in responses to the environment according to each member.

Birth order is defined as being the chronological order of sibling births in a family. There is five ways to classify birth order: first, second, middle, last, and only children. Treatment plays a large role into how strong the birth order effect is. If out of four sons, a daughter is born, even if she is a middle child she will be treated at a first born, because she is the only girl. Age gap is also a major factor affecting birth order. Large age gaps result in birth order starting over (Birth Order, pg. 1-3). Referring to birth order, Dr. Hartstein, a psychologist says, “It’s been researched since the 1920s, and they really have found that over time the things that they have found stay the same and are proven to be honest and true representations of people (1).” A child’s growth and personality are greatly affected by birth order and the effects will be carried into adulthood (Birth Order, pg.1).

There have been many studies conducted regarding the impact of birth order in multi-children families, whether it affects creativity, future success, intelligence, and overall happiness and satisfaction in life. It is popularly believed by laypeople that birth order and family size plays a strong role in the development and eventual personality type and success of each adult; however, while many studies have found positive correlations between older children and success, others have been inconclusive (Carballo, J. et al. 2012). While birth order may play a role in a child’s development, there are many other factors to consider such as socioeconomic status, parental favouritism, parental involvement, and socialization at an early age to name a few. We can go back to our ancestral days to look for clues as to why birth order may have a significant impact on the future success of a child. In ancestral humans, the most important thing was survival; there were high infant mortality rates and people were driven to pass down their genes, so parents were often left to allocate efforts to the child that would most likely survive to have their own children (Daly, M. Wilson, M. 1987, pg 93). This is especially important for fathers, whose paternity is not necessarily guaranteed, as is the mothers. Even today it is still very common for a man to leave a newborn child and the mother if it is even speculated that a child may not be his own (Schmitt, D. 2005, pg 250). Following this, we

Birth order is nothing to take lightly. Weather being a first born child or a last born child is a prime factor in an adolescent’s maturing. Being a first born child might make you more cautious rather than a last born child may make you an attention seeking child. To few people’s knowledge, birth order determines many distinctive characteristics of an adolescent.

The scientists tell of how a child’s position in the family affects their IQ and their personality. They say that firstborn children with associate more with other firstborns (L 51). The scientists tell that middle-born children will associate more with other middle-borns (L 51). They also say that last-born children will associate more with other last-borns (L 52).

It is hypothesized that aspects of a firstborn personality will result in the firstborn being more self-confident, independent, conscientious, and more of a leader whereas the later-born is the opposite: very sociable, a follower, less conscientious and more social. The hypothesis was not supported, in that the results do not show all the aspects of personalities that were expected. Categories such as: self-confidence sociability and leadership are as expected, but conscientiousness is a surprise. The firstborn is instead less conscientious than the later-born. An extraneous variable that could have affected the results include how the individual is raised. One way of overcoming participant variables could be to test both or all siblings as well

As there have been many research conducted in order verify Adler’s theory. In modern times, this had led to conflicting results. With various methodologies used, such as controlled experiments, studies, literature reviews, the findings all spread across the board. Some researchers such as Angst and Ernst believed that birth order does not impact personalities traits. Through extensive reviews and after conducting their own experiment, deemed that there is no correlation between the two topics. Others have disagreed and support Adler’s claim that birth order influences an individual’s personality. Frank Sulloway claims that birth order directly affects the Big Five Personality traits such as conscientiousness, openness, neuroticism, agreeableness and extraversion. Many researchers attribute personalities to various other social factors other than birth order such as family dynamic, socioeconomic issues, cultures

The purpose of this journal was to show that birth order has a direct relationship with psychological outcomes. Dunkle, Harbke, and Papini show how they performed an analysis and discuss their findings regarding birth order. Their focus of this research was to explain if the outcomes support the Null Hypothesis or if their findings contradict the hypothesis. In their research they find

In the study done my McGuirk and Pettijohn, they looked at how birth order not only affects personalities but as well as relationship attitudes and styles.

Birth order studies are an attempt by contemporary psychology to explain how our personalities are fundamentally shaped by “family position”, and how this consequently “affects an individuals’ experiences and development” (A. Phillips and C. Phillips 474). Since psychologist Alfred Adler first published his birth order theory, countless studies have been conducted to corroborate his claims. Frequently, research has focused on specific traits of first-born and later-borns, as well as specific case studies into self-attributions and leadership potential.

Research revolving around the effect of birth order on personality is simple to find, given the multitude of papers on the subject. Despite this birth order literature is considered ambiguous and teaming with conflict. Due to the ease of access to these controversial birth order theories, first time, second time, third time, etc. parents can be influenced by these theories, and thus influence their children. Rarely is there a study that researches the effect of these birth order beliefs on children and their progression into adulthood. Nicholas Herrera, R. Zajonc, Grayzyna Wieczorkowska, and Bogdan Cichomski, address this concept in their empirical study, Beliefs About Birth Rank and Their Reflection in Reality.