Birth Order Theory

Both the author and Stewart believe the timing and order of your birth defines nothing. You grow to have a self-assigned birth order, and your parents perceive the effects of your position in family to be the stereotype which causes them to treat you as such. You were handed these roles to fulfill. “If we use the assumption that perceptions count more than reality, it then becomes clear that second-borns can have much to teach their older sibs. The way they approach the task may be different, but the direction isn’t just one-way, as we might otherwise assume. . . .” (Whitbourne ll

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.

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

Surprisingly, birth order can play an even larger role than the parent-child relationship in causing rebellion. For a long time in human history, the status and fate of a person would be determined by when he or she was born. The eldest son would inherit the family name as well as obtain most of the estate while the later-born children would receive none or less land. Although the modern society places less emphasis on such laws like primogeniture and ultimogeniture, birth order still affects how one is perceived and treated by others. According to research done on families with several children, “firstborns are rated by siblings as more self-disciplined, organized, and deliberate than younger brothers and sisters. They are the ‘achievers’ in the family” (Sulloway 170). These generalizations set high expectations for firstborns, but sometimes, firstborns shy away from the excessive pressure. Not only can unnecessary stress hinder a teenager’s emotional growth, but also can cause the teenager to reject social norms. The world unfairly expects more success out of firstborns than laterborns. However, the first child is actually not considered the most rebellious one. Surveys similarly conclude that “laterborns reject tradition…[and are] twice as likely to describe themselves as the “rebel” of the family” (Sulloway

Birth order refers to the order in which children are born into their families. Common examples of this include the first-born, second-born, youngest and the only child. Birth order is considered to have profound lasting effects on the psychological and behavioural development of children. For this reason, it is essential to study birth order and its impacts on children within families in Canada because it reveals more about the individual in society. A child’s birth order is incredibly influential in regards to their upbringing, shaping their personality and how they grow up to be as individuals. First-born children generally have a great amount of pressure and responsibility placed on them. The youngest children of families

For centuries, one of the most curious stereotypes that have compelled most people is the role birth order has on their personalities and lives. Is birth order necessarily important? Does it honestly affect our personalities? Birth order has been controversial issue since biblical times for example Cain and Abel and Jacob and Esau. Psychologists have a lot of assumptions about how that individual behaves and responds to life whenever a person is a first born, middle child, youngest child, or only child. The questions remains, what difference does birth order make, and how true is it that birth order can even have an impact? Theorist has looked at the various studies regarding birth order most of which have used the example of the Adlerian concept of birth order to suggest intelligence and personality type the following paper will work to better understand if birth order makes a significant difference in the outcome of an individual’s life. Leman believes the key to sibling personality discrepancies lies in birth order and how the parents treat their children due to it. However, there are numerous psychologists responsible for the stereotypes of birth order, and how it contributes to various personality types in the study.

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

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

Through different studies like the General Social Survey, it’s clear that birth order does influence personality development and in turn social behavior. This paper explains the factors within the studies and how they proceed to showcase the correlation between birth order and personality development. These results help affirm that a person’s birth order does affect how their personality develops.

Being the youngest child of a family cannot be easy with the constant comparison to the older siblings. Not only are firstborn siblings known for being smarter than other siblings that come along but they get a physical advantage also. Studies have shown a lot about how birth order affects the oldest and youngest sibling, but as for the middle child, they have seemed to puzzle researchers. Some researchers seem to believe the order of birth is almost as important as genetics. Researchers also go as far to say that no two children have the same set of parents due to the way parents are different with each child.

Birth order can have many effects on a child’s future. Studies show a significant amount of data that proves that birth order can affect a child in more ways than previously thought. Birth order can determine what a child’s future occupation will be, how smart they will become and how responsible they are. There is a lot of evidence to prove that birth order is more than just a number, and it can have a lot of influence over children.

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.

Distinguishing its study from previous research Marini and Kurtz (2011) intended on possessing the advantages of conducting the largest sample size, having access to background measures, focuses on birth order, and intelligence. Researchers proposed that Sulloway’s predicted outcomes on the personality traits regarding first born and later born children will be displayed. For instance, first born children will exhibit characteristics high in Conscientiousness and Neuroticism, whereas later borns will score high in Extraversion and Agreeableness. In addition, first borns are predicted to score higher on intelligence measure than elder siblings. Researchers used data from Project Talent, a sample a 440,000 students from high school administered several personality and intelligence assessments. A Project Talent Personality Inventory, Mature Personality Scale, Culture Scale, Leadership Scale, and Tidiness Scale were administered to measure personality and intelligence. Participants were told to identify the number of siblings and to classify each sibling. For instance, biological, half, step, or foster siblings. To measure family background participants identified caregivers and general demographic information. Results indicated first borns children scored high in Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness. While later born children scored high on Extraversion and Openness to Experience. In addition, findings concluded that first born children display a higher

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

This investigation will study how birth order affects creativity and risky behaviour throughout developmental stages. This is an important issue as many previous studies surrounded birth have concluded birth order affects personality and lifestyle. The theory of birth order holds an importance to the study of psychology as it has also been concluded that birth order can affect behavioural choices and metal process. The purpose of this investigation is to determine whether a child is born first, second, third or last is linked to the development of the child’s personality and behavioural choices, specificity creativity and risk taking. This investigation will also examine if the roles and norms that have been placed on the status of a child