The Impact of Birth Order on Personality Essay

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.

A child who is organised well, is able to balance the tensional qualities therefore shows the least

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

Among the first psychologists to consider the effect of birth order on personality was Alfred Adler. Adler espoused that birth order was determinative of the amount of attention that children garnered from their parents (Adler, 1964). The first perspective on birth order thus stemmed from a belief that individuals competed for attention and for areas of strength as a response to parental expectations.

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.

That middle children may be even-tempered with a "take it or leave it" attitude, that they may have trouble finding a place or become a fighter of injustice. That youngest children wants to be bigger than the others, may have huge plans that never work out, can stay the "baby", and are frequently spoiled. That only children like being the center of adult attention, often have difficulty sharing with siblings and peers, and prefer adult company and the use adult language.

Though, birth order illuminates a majority of our personality traits and decisions such as, career and romantic relationships. Parents get wrapped up in the ‘firstborn haze’ and overlook how much pressure they put on older siblings. By creating a pressure to be the best and ‘in control’ the older sibling takes on the leadership role and often becomes more aligned with doing better in school than younger siblings. Determination and intelligence correspond with higher level of career, and that is just what the older sibling strives for. In fact, “100% of astronauts who’ve gone into space were either eldest children or eldest sons” (State). Relationships work better if partners differ from each other and aren’t in the same birth order. The competition can be detrimental and problematic. Alfred Adler’s birth order theory provides us with useful information to reflect our decisions and explain how you think about things. By becoming aware of it we can become more familiar with ourselves and get out of the all too familiar comfort

The oldest child plays an inimitable role in the structure of her family. She has a propensity to be confident and often craves her independence at an early age. She sets the standard for her younger siblings and realizes that her actions are observed closely by impressionable eyes. This accountability often instills in her a drive to act in a respectable and responsible manner. As the oldest child in a family of eight, I have been persistent in regarding these characteristics and have enabled them to shape my identity.

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

This study was compelling as it was one of the first to compare birth rank stereotypes with reality. However, as the authors noted, do these stereotypes "induce differences in parents ' expectations?" (Herrera 150) Thus, the stereotype becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I am the eldest of two sisters by blood, this paper is not giving research on non-blood related siblings. My sisters and I have very different personalities (which I understand is common) but it’s always came to my attention especially when I met my boyfriend and his two sisters. My boyfriend and his sisters have the same personalities like my sisters and I with the order we were all born in. This is why I chose to do the topic of birth order and personality, to see if there is a significance or if these two situations were just a coincidence. My topic is related to family resource management because the number of children you have defiantly affects the family and how a family needs to manage. My topic is also related because

“The youngest child gets everything.” I could not agree any less with this phrase when I was the youngest in my family. Every child would know the kind of ‘power’ their younger sibling has over them. Therefore, I am guilty of taking advantage of this privilege against my older brother and sister. To begin with, I purposely placed both of them in trouble whenever they made me cry or whenever they don’t obey what I want them to do. In short, I was very spoiled and stubborn child, but nevertheless, I treasured those moments where I was always their center of attention. That was before my parents told me that I was going to have a younger sister.

According to Adlerian theory, only children take on the characteristics of both the firstborn and the youngest. Showered with attention by their parents, only children of ten expect to be universally admired. Yet they learn to rely on

“The youngest child gets everything.” I could not agree any less with this phrase when I first heard of it. Being the youngest in my family, I can openly relate. Every child would know the kind of ‘power’ their youngest sibling has over them. Therefore, I am guilty for taking advantage of this privilege against my older brother and sister when I was little. To begin with, I purposely placed both of them in trouble whenever they made me cry. Ideally, I was a spoiled and stubborn child who treasured those moments whenever I was my family’s center of attention. Moreover, I used to believe my life was perfect, well that was before my parents told me that I was going to have a younger sister.