Abstract
The long term
influence of a child’s birth order has been a deeply debated and thoroughly
researched aspect of developmental psychology. Society has embraced birth order
theory as popular psychology and many psychologists agree that influence of
birth order shapes our later life choices which impact our social interactions,
choice of professions and relationship strategy. Critics of birth order theory
argue that changes measured in later life are shown that can alter the previous
influence of the birth order, therefore this contradiction would indicate that
birth order is a temporary environmental influence which can be eliminated by
later life environmental changes rather then a steady biological factor of
imbedded trait development.
Birth Order Influence on Childhood Personality Development
Austrian Psychoanalyst Alfred Adler published initial
papers on Birth Order Theory in the early 1900’s. Adler defined his theory that
the oldest child’s personality develops differently after he is “dethroned” by
the next child who then becomes the new focus of his parent’s attention, he is
then assigned a unique role as a surrogate parent to help raise his younger
siblings at the sacrifice of his own self interest. The youngest child or only
child does not grow through a period of mentoring subordinate siblings and
therefore lacks some developmental character building experience into adulthood
(Adler 1928). For many years since birth
order stereotypes have been a common household belief, society had previously
found little reason to question the early scientific studies that reaffirmed
Adler’s original concept.
However more recent research pointed out a lack of
consistent evidence for birth order influence on adult personality on a large
scale. And studies in late adulthood fail to find remaining influences of birth
order behavioral traits. Using more precise scientific controls for statistical
reliability, modern researchers have failed to produce statistically
significant evidence to support these widely believed stereotypes of birth
order behavior (Paulhus, 1998).
Birth Order Traits
Oldest Child Traits
Oldest children are observed to be
intelligent, energetic, logical, ambitious, enterprising, conscientious,
punctual, scholarly, socially conservative, emotionally neurotic and self
confident. Eldest children have shown a measurable intelligence advantage over
their younger siblings. The intelligence advantage is reliably supported when
contrasted against only children who did not share this measurable intelligence
advantage over the population as a whole. The theories for the eldest advantage
typically attribute it to the intellectual development gained from tutoring
younger siblings early in life (Ernst, 1983).
Eldest most often pursue goal oriented
accomplishment to demonstrate superiority in competitions of social ideals to
win affection from parents. Over 70 percent of entrepreneurs, 90 percent of
astronauts, 80 percent of Nobel Prize winners and 65% of American presidents
were eldest children, and these statistics climb dramatically as we adjust for
second born who are the oldest male in a family. They are consistently found in
leadership occupations, have the highest rate of military service, and are
dramatically overrepresented in political, law enforcement and corporate
leadership; they also dominate precision sciences such as law, medicine and
engineering. They exhibit a higher then average resistance to change, and are
most likely to demonstrate aggression when met with resistance from
subordinates (Sulloway 2001). They are
found in measurably low concentrations in fields that offer limited structure
and instead reward creativity such as sales, advertising, art and music.
Middle Child Traits
Typical middle child traits are measured to be
cooperative, flexible diplomatic mediators of social conflict. Middle children
also self report the highest scores of suspicion, mistrust and cynicism of
intentions of their superiors; however they have the highest loyalty rating to
their subordinates of any birth rank (Sulloway, 2001).
Middle children never enjoyed the unique period of home life
as an only child like the eldest and youngest enjoy at some point. To
compensate for this hardship, middle children focus on developing a supportive
social circle outside of the home, investing their energy cultivating
friendships and alliances with their peers.
Middle children become more financially and emotionally
independent and typically live the furthest distance from the parents later in
life. They are also the least likely to return home for family gatherings or to
ask their parents for financial assistance (Sulloway 2001). Of the trait of
generosity, middles offer their subordinates the highest rates compensation in
the workplace and are more likely to offer acts of reciprocal altruism in
effort to build a team approach to tasks. Middle children have been measured to
rate their childhood as unloving and unsupportive on self-assessment
questionnaires (Ernst, 1983).
Middle children are most likely to enter professions that
require diplomacy, innovation, reward risk, as well as fields which allow creative
latitude in establishing their duties and the pace which the tasks must be
accomplished. Middle children are overrepresented in the fields of fine art,
advertising, sales, mediation, education, psychology and personnel management.
Middle born children have been found to be measurably underrepresented in
military service and strictly structured corporate cultures (Sulloway,
2001).
Youngest Child Traits
Youngest children are observed to be the most empathetic,
creative, carefree, liberal, and rebellious. Behavioral testing indicates them
to be risk takers, idealists, witty, secretive and emotionally immature for
their age. They more then any other birth order excel at artistic pursuits
especially the performing arts of acting, dancing and music. They are playful
even as adults and develop a tactful non-confrontational approach to social
interactions often relying on humor and flattery to persuade others to their
point of view (Sulloway, 2001). They have been measured to have some emotional
underdevelopment which may be from lacking the experience of watching a
biological duplicate of themselves at varying stages of maturity as any older
sibling can witness, this unique perspective may be key to a keen emotional
self-awareness.
A study uncovered
an unusually high incidence of homosexuality in youngest sons, Edward Miller
further studied that data on the phenomena in his book Homosexuality,
Birth Order
and Evolution which indicated that the more older brothers a male has, the
higher probability he will be homosexual. This birth order sexual preference
however has not found a measurable correlation to females in either the number
of older sisters the male has or any measurable influence of female
homosexuality (Miller, 2009).
Only Children
Only children have been measured to mature
faster, have higher verbal test scores, and are perceived as responsible,
self-centered, perfectionists. Only children especially only males demonstrate,
high levels of work ethic and career oriented achievement and are observed to
demonstrate the longest enduring commitment to goals. While society seems to universally stereotype
only children as spoiled and selfish, a study of over 5000 Chinese families
with only children were compared to peers with siblings, that research failed
to uncover any statistical disadvantage to the long term success of only
children. (Sulloway, 2001)
Conclusions
A study published in the 1980s showed no correlation
between birth order and the big five personality traits of randomly selected
population in military entrance assessments (Ernst 1983). However Sulloway has
found that when studying each individual within a family the influence of birth
order is remarkably defined, however when comparing personality traits across
all members of society that birth order has a very weak influence on
personality traits. Paulhus believes this can be explained by accepting the
fact the birth order is a weaker influence then heredity of behavioral
genetics. This theory could explain why the 2nd born from 100
different families can measure much differently on personality assessments
however still exhibit 2nd born traits when compared with their
siblings within their family (Sulloway, 2001).
Further support of birth order impact on personality was
found in a 2009 study documented that
first, middle and last born adults subconsciously self segregated themselves
into workgroups when assigned a group project. This natural selection of group
project partners suggests that we have a subconscious awareness in our own
behavioral traits and can unknowingly perceive them in those around us to allow
us to partner up with peers that share our priorities (Miller, 2009).
References
Adler, Alfred.
1928. “Characteristics of the First, Second, and Third Child”,
Children, 3, 14-52.
Ernst, Cécile
& Angst, Jules. 1983. Birth Order: Its Influence on Personality.
Berlin and New York
:
Springer-Verlag.
Paulhus, D.L., Trapnell, P.D., & Chen, D. (1998).
Birth order effects on personality and
achievement
within families. Psychological Science, 10, 482-488.
Miller, Edward. Homosexuality,
Birth Order and Evolution. (February 2000) Archives of Sexual
Behavior No. 29 . 1-34
Sulloway, F.J. (2001). Birth Order, Sibling Competition,
and Human Behavior.
