Graphic by Eilidh McNaughton By Eilidh McNaughtoN The question of whether a person’s position among siblings impacts their life course, and specifically their personality, has interested the public for years. According to general consensus, firstborn children are more responsible and conformist than youngest siblings, who are seen as more rebellious and sociable. Middle children are seen as independent and people pleasers (Lorenzi, 2019). Is there any truth to these stereotypes? Recent research suggests not. There has been a longstanding debate over the effects of birth order on personality in the scientific community. Until recently, results from research on the topic have remained inconclusive and controversial (Damian & Roberts, 2015b). Whilst some research did not find any effect of birth order on personality, others found in their research studies that firstborns were more conscientiousness, neurotic and dominant compared to laterborns who appeared to be more agreeable and sociable (Sulloway, 1996). Others have suggested that birth order also impacted intelligence in adulthood; intelligence being highest for firstborns and decreasing thereafter (Zajonc, 2001). One possible explanation for the inconsistent findings is the use of different methods across different studies (Damian & Roberts, 2015b). However, recent studies indicate that birth order does not in fact influence personality in adults. One key study which provided evidence for this was conducted by Rohrer, Egloff and Schmukle (2015). These researchers looked at around 20,000 people from the United States, United Kingdom and Germany to find out whether there is any connection between birth order and personality. Participant’s answers to questions about different personality traits, as well as their scores from intelligence tests, were analysed in terms of birth order. All in all, the researchers found that five broad traits, described by psychologists as the ‘Big Five’, are not influenced by birth order. The Big Five traits are openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Whilst personality traits did not seem to be affected by birth order, intelligence did seem to be slightly influenced. Firstborns in their study tended to score higher on measures of intelligence whereas laterborn children usually scored lower. This is rather intuitive as parents can give their undivided attention to their firstborn children, which promotes cognitive abilities. If parents go on to have more children, their attention and energy is divided amongst them and the younger children do not have an equally rich intellectual environment to their older siblings (Guarino, 2019). In another study Damian and Roberts (2015a) investigated whether birth order impacts personality using a large group of American high school students, which Damian stated was “larger than all of the previous samples from the past hundred years put together” (Guarino, 2019). Students completed a survey where they answered questions about a range of personality traits including impulsivity, self-confidence, and tidiness as well as intelligence. The researchers then compared this to participant’s position among their siblings and came to the conclusion that birth order does not seem to be important in the development of personality traits. They also did not find evidence to prove that birth order influences intelligence, which contradicts the results of the aforementioned study (Damian and Roberts, 2015a). Together, these studies provide strong evidence that birth order does not impact personality. Some differences that we see among siblings in everyday life are actually a result of age and not birth order. One example is with the personality trait of conscientiousness, which increases into adulthood. It is not surprising that, when you compare conscientiousness within firstborns v laterborns, the firstborn children are more conscientiousness because they are older at the time of comparison and therefore have increased conscientiousness (Guarino, 2019). Even though birth order does not appear to shape adult personalities, it does impact some areas of life. For example, firstborns may take over the family business or inherit the family fortune as a result of cultural customs (Guarino, 2019). This highlights that birth order does influence different areas of our lives, however, the view that it influences personality may be overreaching. Yet, despite the evidence which suggests that birth order does not affect personalities in adulthood, it is likely that these stereotypes will continue to be represented in popular culture as it is often hard to let go of an idea once it has received widespread attention and acceptance by the general public. More research should also continue to look at the influences that birth order has on people as, whilst we are getting closer to the truth, we still have a way to go before we fully understand the impact that one’s position among siblings has on their life (Guarino, 2019). References
Damian, R. I. & Roberts, B. W, (2015b). Settling the debate on birth order and personality. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(46), 14119–14120. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1519064112 Damian, R. I., & Roberts, B. W. (2015a). The associations of birth order with personality and intelligence in a representative sample of U.S. high school students. Journal of Research in Personality, 58, 96-105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2015.05.005 Guarino, B. (2019, March 14). Birth order may not shape personality after all. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/03/14/birth-order-doesnt-shape-personality-after-all/ Lorenzi, N. (2019, September 18). What to know about older, younger, and middle child personalities. Parents. https://www.parents.com/baby/development/sibling-issues/how-birth-order-shapes-personality/ Rohrer, J. M., Egloff, B., & Schmukle, S. C. (2015). Examining the effects of birth order on personality. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(46), 14224–14229. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1506451112 Sulloway, F. (1996) Born to rebel: Birth order family dynamics, and creative lives. Pantheon Books. Zajonc, R. B. (2001). The family dynamics of intellectual development. The American psychologist, 56(6-7), 490–496. https://doi.org/10.1037//0003-066x.56.6-7.490
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