What is birth order and how does it affect personality

Adlers' family constellation theory says that the order you are born with a family influences your personality. I’m sure we’ve all heard the generalizations of kids within a family, the oldest is the star, the middle child is skipped over and the youngest is the pampered one, how true are these? Do only children have a personality type? You’d be surprised to find out there’s something to all of it. and there’s plenty of research to show for it as well. I’ll give you a glimpse into how birth order shapes our personalities.

Let’s look at the characteristics of each child in the birth order. Most of the research on this topic comes from Daniel Eckstein, and his characteristics are from a 1975 distribution of the Adler institute. Eckstein studied this subject for decades starting at the Adler institute (the guy that came up with the theory) so what I’m trying to say is this guy knows his stuff! Here are the characteristics quoted from Daniel Eckstein, Le Roy Baruth and David Mahrer.

The oldest child: being born first entitles the child to the parents undivided attention, at least until another sibling is born. Usually, the oldest child will conform to the parents standards because they do not want to lose favor. They tend to be very responsible because of their desire to meet adult standards. when another child is born, they initially feel “dethroned”. The threat of the newborn will diminish as they realize they are bigger and more capable. However, if the second child is close in age to the first, there is a chance that the second might become more capable than the first. Permanently dethroning the first born is more likely when the first is a boy followed by a girl. As a girl she will have an accelerated rate of development making dethronement possible. Other frequent characteristics include preference for authority, dislike for change, being a “pacemaker” for the other children, ambitious and achievement oriented, tends to relate to adults better.

The middle child: the middle child will usually try to overtake the first because of what has become known as the “Avis complex” (comprehensive list of complexes coming soon) “because I am second, I will try harder”. Usually, the middle child will choose to compete in areas in which the oldest child is not proficient. If the oldest child is a good student, athlete, or model of good behavior, the middle child will probably be poor students, not interested in sports and have disciplinary issues, however they might be good musicians, artists, or strong in area the oldest child is not. Where the oldest child is the center of the universe the second child must “slip in on the second act” they tend to be more sociable than the oldest child. They are also sensitive to injustices, unfairness, feelings of being slighted or having no place in the group. When a younger sibling is born the middle child will also feel dethroned.

The youngest child: the youngest child has something going for them that the other children do not, they have never been dethroned. They are usually the most powerful of the family because of the many ways of getting parents or siblings to do things for them. youngest children are frequently not taken seriously because they are the smallest and as a result may be spoiled by others. ‘

The single child: single children usually develop in one of two basic directions, either they will try to meet the adult level of competence, or they will remain helpless and irresponsible as long as possible. Usually, single children have a better relationship with people much older than them or younger than they are rather than with their peer group. Single children may refuse to cooperate when their every wish is not granted. They are like youngest children because neither has been displaced. They are often loners not much for sharing and often expect a special place without having earned it.

That’s the basic description of each level of birth order but what does other research have to say about it? glad I asked, let’s look.

In a study of birth order effects on educational outcomes and drug use, researchers found that birth order does have an important relationship in both areas, specifically substance use for youth but differing educational outcomes. Adler himself suggested that different positions in a birth order correlated to both positive and negative life outcomes. Researchers also addressed that examination efforts and methodological efforts produced weak or inconsistent results, but more recent work shows the strength of birth order as an important factor especially in first born children. Researchers found support for Adler’s theory, being the first born was a good protector against drug use, it was also true for both genders. Being a firstborn also has an impact on academic achievement. Being the youngest has risks of low academic achievement.

Further, Eckstein (the guy that studied birth order for decades) concludes that birth order is an important factor in development and outcome but adds the differences are not to place people into rigid categories. Most things in psychology are a mix of theories and birth is one factor of many that should be included in understanding an individual but not the defining factor. He also adds a list of 151 empirical studies showing the significance of birth order.

With that information see if you can see some similarities in yourself or your friends. Again, it’s not the defining factor but it is a noticeable one. You may be better suited to understand more about yourself or someone because you know about it now (look inside the mind is our slogan).

Jake O. founder and editor of Psycho-social.com, graduate of Oregon state university (Go Beavs!) BA in psychology. Connect with him by email to pick his brain about social issues and psychological understandings of them.

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 Sources

Eckstein, D., Baruth, L. R., & Mahrer, D. (1975). General characteristics of various ordinal positions within a birth order. Lifestyle: What It Is and How to Do It. Printed by mother earth news inc. distributed by the Adler institute.

Eckstien, D. (200AD). Empirical studies indicating significant birth-order-related personality differences. Individual Psychology, 56(4), 481–494.

Horner, P., Andrade, F., Delva, J., Grogan-Kaylor, A., & Castillo, M. (2012). The Relationship of Birth Order and Gender with Academic Standing and Substance Use Among Youth in Latin America. Journal of individual psychology (1998), 68(1), 19–37.