Madison Otter
5th Hour
Thesis- The birth order of children affects their personality from young childhood
through adulthood. Firstborns, middles and the youngest exhibit different traits that have proven
uncanny similarities throughout time.
Outline
I.
II.
Introduction
Oldest
A. More likely to be a leader
B. Cautious with dangerous activities/situations
C. Generally have higher IQ than younger siblings
III.
Middle
A. Closer to friends than family (makes friends easily)
B. More attention-seeking than oldest and youngest
C. Risk takers, not good at decision-making
IV.
Youngest
A. Fun and tend to love life
B. Manipulative using wits and charm
C. Lack independence if overprotected
V.
Conclusion
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Madison Otter
Mrs. Eyestone
AP English III, 4th hour
November 24, 2015
Little Rascals:
The Effects of Birth Order
Thanksgiving dinner occurs at a grandparents’ house, and family members choose their
favorite foods from a wide selection of dishes and desserts. A child goes to pick up the last
remaining cookie, only for his hand to collide with his sibling’s hungry fingers. The reaction of
the child in this situation would most likely depend on whether he holds the position of the
eldest, middle or youngest child. Personality has proven surprisingly accurate throughout many
studies of the effects of birth order, although no definite proof exists of set traits. Frank J.
Sulloway, author of the book Born to Rebel, speaks of siblings, saying, “... brothers and sisters
are already remarkably different when they are first conceived. On average, siblings share only
half of each other’s genes. In addition to differences in physical attributes, genetics is responsible
for numerous disparities in personality” (86). The birth order of children affects their personality
from young childhood through adulthood. Firstborn, middle, and youngest children exhibit
different traits that have proven uncanny similarities throughout time.
The eldest child in a family has the stereotype of acting like a mini-adult. He seems older
than his true age because of his maturity and know-it-all personality. The oldest usually exhibits
traits of a leader because of his parents and family members whom hold high expectations for
him. The child, in turn, almost always begins to hold high standards for himself, feeling
determined to achieve higher goals than perhaps a middle or youngest child. In The New Birth
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Order Book, it discusses the variety of characteristics in firstborns, saying, “... There is another
brand of first born who is assertive, strong willed, a high achiever, and a hard driver. These
assertive first borns set high goals and have a strong need to be ‘king or queen pin’” (Leman 82).
Many firstborns exhibit leadership skills, perfection, determination and confidence because of
the time spent around adults almost exclusively until they have siblings to share the spotlight
with. The natural leadership often emerges once the firstborn has responsibility of his siblings.
As well as being strong-willed, the oldest tends to pick up a sense of caution once he
gains a sibling or two. When his parents decide to have more children, the oldest obtains the duty
of watching after his younger brothers or sisters when the parents cannot. On the website Real
Simple, Ingela Ratledge says, “Firstborns tend to be surrogate parents when other siblings arrive,
hence their protective and responsible nature” (n.p.). Furthermore, he stands as someone for the
parents to trust if a situation goes awry. For instance, if the eldest and his younger sibling play on
a jungle gym and the younger child falls and hurts her arm, the eldest needs to find an adult; if he
does not, his sibling would lie on the ground in pain with a possibly broken limb. The firstborn
must remain cautious so an incident such as that would not happen. Often referred to as a bit of a
“stick-in-the-mud,” it has much to do with the firstborn’s cautious nature in decision making. In
an effort to keep his siblings out of trouble, this also seems relevant as to why the eldest develops
a bossy attitude. After all, anyone would get a bit grouchy dealing with people who do not want
to listen and who have a slight tendency to leave toys lying on every square foot of the house.
Furthermore, multiple studies show the oldest child usually has a few more IQ points
than the other children. The firstborn receives more attention and care than any of his siblings
because for at least a year, he is the only one to focus on; this is most likely the reason for the
slightly higher IQ. By the time younger siblings come along, parents get fatigued with raising
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children and do not put as much effort into trying to teach the little ones everything, because they
have to split the attention between two or more children. In the periodical “Does Birth Order
Matter?,” it discusses how the oldest often shows their siblings the ropes, which helps in building
brainpower. It goes on to elaborate on a Norwegian study from 241,000 military conscripts that
found that the eldest child has an average IQ of 103, with each child after declining by a few
points (Skolnik 129). Exceptions to this phenomenon with the eldest’s intelligence not
surpassing the other siblings happens, of course. However, in most cases, the firstborn bears the
highest intelligence level of his siblings.
On the other hand, while the oldest child enjoys the company of their parents and
authority figures, the middle child prefers spending time with their friends. In Lesley Evans
Ogden’s periodical titled “The Luck of the Draw,” she says, “... Firstborns and last-borns tend to
have the closest relationships with their parents, whereas middle children have stronger
relationships outside the family… middle children tending to receive less parental attention,
which she says helps hone their skills as ‘friendship specialists’” (41). The middle child feels left
out in many areas. His older and younger siblings seem to surpass him in everything he does.
Moreover, the parents pay more attention to the oldest and youngest, leaving the middle child
feeling a bit helpless and unwanted. His friends listen to him when his family seems to care
about other matters or people more than him. Therefore, the middle child’s family cannot change
or control his friendships, and he does not have to share his friends with his siblings. He feels
like his friends belong to him, which alleviates his feelings of helplessness. Friend groups remain
special to the middle child even after adolescence because of their calming effect on him.
In addition to having close friends, the middle child falls into the category of more
attention-seeking than the oldest and youngest. This has good reason, because as mentioned
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previously, the parents generally focus their attention to a greater extent on the oldest and
youngest children, which makes the middle child desperate for some attention. In Psychology
Today, in the article “Oh, Brother!,” it explains that middle children, no matter how hard the
parents try to spread their love evenly, remain the sibling that receives the least attention and that
the middle child often goes through life more self-conscious and with lower self-esteem (Marano
59). He finds that friends give him the attention he lacks at home, which explains his close
connection to them. Feeling unseen by his parents, the child sometimes begins to feel enraged by
his siblings and thinks that they steal his thunder and take away the attention he wants. Due to
his thought process that his parents play favorites with the oldest and youngest, he sometimes
detaches himself from family life and either lives as a bit of a loner or relies mostly on his
friends. This behavior often carries into adulthood for the middle child.
Contrary to the oldest, the middle child displays risk-taking behavior. The magazine
article, “Doctor, Lawyer… Indian Chief? The Effects of Birth Order.,” reveals that the siblings
after the oldest often participate in athletics and happen to exercise less caution, as they do not
excel in decision making (Moore and Cox 21). Furthermore, the middle child’s personality
shows rebellious and competitive tendencies because he had to fight for the spotlight of his
parents’ attention with his siblings. He may do dangerous contact sports and other risky activities
because he attempts to escape the long shadow of his siblings or perhaps to let out some of the
rage that builds up inside of him from his jealousy and hurt. Additionally, USA Today article
“Merely having an older sibling can be a bad influence.,” asserts that, “... the very existence of
an older sibling increases the chances a younger sibling will drink, smoke, use marijuana or have
sex… ‘We find a consistent effect…. We don’t actually know if the older sibling is doing these
things or not’ ” (Jayson n.p.). The article also suggests that the middle child’s lack of decision-
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making skills may happen due to the lack of adult influence they have received from their
parents.
The youngest sibling most often showcases a bubbly personality. He has a happy-golucky attitude that allows him to enjoy life thoroughly. In addition, he usually entertains the
household due to his fairly mellow outlook on life and silly nature. Kevin Leman speaks about
lastborns in The New Birth Order Book, saying, “A typical characteristic of the last born is that
he is carefree and vivacious — a real people person, who is usually popular in spite of (because
of?) his clowning antics” (169). The baby of the family tends to have an adventurous way about
him, similar to the middle child. Perhaps the reason he opens up to new ideas easily has
something to do with the fact that the youngest child does not usually have a set future for him,
as there was a plan for the oldest, and he needs to have options for what to do with his life. Also,
the baby learns from his siblings what and what not to do, preparing him to not make the
mistakes himself, allowing him to have an easier and more fun time, omitting errors.
On the other hand, this sunshiney bundle of joy has a dark side. He manipulates people to
get what he wants or to get his siblings in trouble, which sometimes causes hard feelings
between them. With his parents wrapped around his little finger, he uses them to get his way
most of the time because he has a persuasive way of speaking. The youngest child often becomes
the most spoiled, since having the “last baby” status correlates with the parents and grandparents
treasuring and spoiling him greatly — not that they do not love the other siblings. However, the
youngest usually gets a little more attention once they arrive on the scene. The attention turns
negative sometimes, though. Kevin Leman quotes Wilson and Edington from their book, First
Child, Second Child, using the section about the baby that says, “Some last borns become very
adept at charming the world in various ways, while others grow up with a feeling that the only
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way they can gain anybody’s attention is by making a mess; by being a problem child or a pest
or a rebel who enjoys shooting spitballs at City Hall. If you are a typical last born, you have a
fair share of both the charmer and the rebel in your make up, and other people are often caught
off guard by the fact that you can be endearing one minute, and hard to deal with the next” (172).
Under those circumstances, the youngest could also obtain the reputation of having a bratty side.
Lastly, the youngest child lacks independence if his parents overprotect him. The parents
see him as the “baby” forever, since he will remain their last child perpetually. The baby gets
pampered and coddled from the moment he comes into the world. Because of this, although he
can prove perfectly capable of doing a task, they think that he cannot do most chores by himself
yet; he’s “too young!” Consequently, as Sulloway quotes Alfred Adler in Born to Rebel, the
child becomes spoiled, and a lazy, spoiled child cannot be independent (55). In addition, he often
becomes sheltered from the outside world, because the parents don’t want him to grow up too
fast, like their oldest child. As a result, the youngest may become a bit naive due to being
blocked from certain situations or topics. Moreover, when he grows older, sometimes he feels
resentment toward his parents for hindering his knowledge of the world. Living independently
often proves difficult for the baby since in his home, he has few to no responsibilities due to his
older siblings and parents taking care of chores.
To conclude, depending on a child’s birth order, he may have a different personality from
early on to maturity. Studies show strangely similar findings through the years in families
regarding the firstborn, middle and youngest’s personalities. Although the phenomenon has
striking similarities, it has no evidence of having scientific proof.
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Works Cited
Jayson, Sharon. “Merely having an older sibling can be a bad influence.” USA Today.
MasterFILE Premier. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
Leman, Kevin. The New Birth Order Book. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1999. Print.
Marano, Hara Estroff. “Oh, Brother!.” Psychology Today Vol. 43, No. 4. July/Aug. 2010: 54-61.
SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
Moore, Kris K., and Joe A. Cox. “Doctor, Lawyer… Indian Chief? The Effects of Birth Order.”
Baylor Business Review. Winter 1990: 18+. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
Ogden, Lesley Evans. “The Luck of The Draw.” New Scientist 219.2933. 7 Sept. 2013: 40-43.
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MasterFILE Premier. Web. 16 Oct. 2015.
Ratledge, Ingela. Real Simple. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
Skolnik, Deborah. “Does Birth Order Matter?.” Parenting 21.9. Oct. 2007: 129-133. MasterFILE
Premier. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.
Sulloway, Frank J. Born to Rebel. New York: Pantheon Books, 1996. Print.