Effects of Birth Order on Children

Introduction

Birth order is the order in which a child is born. In a typical family of three, there are three types of birth orders: the first child, the middle child and the last child. Stereotypically the first child is the over achiever of the family. Laden with responsibility he/she excels at studies and gets good grades. The first born also has the highest i.q on average.

 My topic is related to the effects of birth order on a person’s personality. Your birth order affects your personality and nearly every aspect of your life, but it is only one of many factors in personality development. Birth order can be altered by illness, early death, or the mental incapacity of a sibling. The reason I chose the effects of birth order as my topic is because it is a really straightforward idea. I can also identify with this topic because I myself have experienced its effects to some degree. This topic is important in relation to a family studies course because it helps us realize stereotypical family mechanics which we have all experienced at some point in our lives.  While birth order does not predict the future, it certainly can explain why people are drawn down a certain path while others seem completely unappealing.

The research question that raises many concerns is “does birth order affect peoples personalities and if so how much?” In this report I will try to demonstrate the significance of birth order and its affects on personality. I will also try to determine how much birth order actually affects a person’s life, career and personality. In the following pages I have compiled information from numerous sources to compile and prove that birth order affects birth order at all stages, be it eldest, middle or youngest.

The effects of birth order on the first child

The oldest child in both families is the most responsible and the most obedient child. Always trying to outperform others, according to the article this is due to the parents having higher expectations of their first child. The oldest kid is usually the most intelligent with the highest average IQ. The first borns are also associated with having a larger vocabulary than their siblings. This is due to the fact that when a child is born it gets full attention from the parents and its vocabulary is picked up from the parents. However, later children pick up vocabulary slightly more from their siblings than their parents, thus they tend to have a weaker vocabulary than their older siblings. A study conducted in 1973 published data from nearly the entire population of 19 year old dutch men. The study found that children from large families tend to show poorer results in intelligence tests. Within each family size first borns scored better on IQ’s and the results declined with each rising birth order. Several reasons are given to explain this phenomenon. One is due to the Primogeniture laws which state that first borns would be more likely to have the financial resources to complete their studies. Firstborns also had the advantage of being more of a companion to their parents than other children. They also had to take more responsibility than their siblings. First borns also had the advantage to get more nourishment and attention from their parents. Birth order personality traits are established by the time a child is two years old. The only/first child tends to be a thinker and is very organized. They are subjected to higher expectations since the parents are more anxious, but give their first child more responsibility. These children are the most likely to succeed and get high salary jobs. The first born is usually reliable, strict, serious and likes being around elder people. They are also problems solvers, good listeners, controlling and moralistic.