Birth order and personality

How birth order affects the development of children and their personalities
Stephanie Williams
820-479-434
PSYC 002 N6
March 28th 2014
Amie Gheewala

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A family can be defined as two or more people who share goals and
values, have long-term commitments to one another, and reside usually in
the same dwelling place (Collins dictionary, 2014). Birth order is said to be a
contributory factor to ones personality. Children are a very important aspect
of a family and their personalities shape their futures. Typically 49% of
families in Canada have 3 children (Statistics Canada, 2011). In this essay I
will explore how personality is affected by birth order. This topic interests me
because I come from a family with many siblings and was very intrigued by
the theory itself. Also, I am the last born child so I was interested to see if
what my glorified older siblings say about me being sheltered can be blamed
on birth order. I will be exploring specifically how intelligence quotient and
competiveness affects first-born children, how careers and perfectionism
affect middle children, and how religion and relationships affect last-born
children.
First-born children are perceived to be over achievers and more
responsible because of their responsibility to their younger siblings. In the
article Falling in line, Laura Janecka categorizes first-borns to be the brains of
the family. The parents tend to pour their resources into the first born
children therefore making their IQs 3 points higher than their
siblings(Janecka, L., 2010). I agree with this statement because it closely
mimics my eldest sisters educational aspect of her life. It makes sense that
parents fear being imperfect therefore making sure their first child has all the
resources he or she will need to prosper or have the resources they

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themselves were not fortunate to have. Furthermore, she goes on to say
that first-borns are much more competitive and conservative because of the
change of going from only child to older (Janecka, L, 2010). Therefore
making them much more competitive in hopes to keep their position of
favorite child. I also agree with this because I feel that being more
conservative than their rebellious younger siblings puts them in a higher
ranking of trust and maturity therefore their parents will perceive them to be
more reliable and able to make conscious decisions.
In my experience middle born children are neglected the most due to
their lack of responsibility as well as negative likelihood to become the
favorite child. In the article called: How birth order affects personality,
Joshua Hartshorne presents that new evidence shows that birth order does
affect IQ of children (Hartshorne, J., 2007). This supports Laura Janeckas
article stating that middle born children are often unbiased because they are
used to compromise, therefore they are lead into jobs that involve
negotiating such as management and politics (Janecka, L., 2010). Parents
can often affect the child performance by creating a stigma about their
children that even they accept. Middle age children are seen to be low in
competence and achievement reducing their self-esteem (Janecka, L., 2010).
And because of the reduced self esteem middle age children often feel alone
or feel as if they dont fit in they turn to their friends for support. They reach
out to their peers and form stronger relationships outside of their
kinships(Janecka, L., 2010).

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Last-born children have always been perceived to be gentle and
therefore sheltered by their parents. Typically, parenting takes experience
making it easier for parents to likely be more laid when raising the last-born
child. These children are usually more in touch with religion and prioritize the
importance of god in ones life (Janecka L., 2010). I myself am a last-born
child and I think of myself to be much more religiously aware than my other
siblings because they were raised more old fashioned and strict. However, I
was able to explore a lot of different aspects of religion. She goes on to
describe the last born as someone who gets babied, which I can also relate
to. Research shows that last-born are likely to form romantic bonds with
those who share the same birth order(Janecka L., 2010). I dont agree with
those statement because I think that someone who is continuously babied
and put down for their lack of self care may seek change in their life as they
mature, therefore reaching for a romantic bond with someone who is a firstborn.
In the article called Evaluations of family by youth it briefly goes
through studies on birth order and how it effects multiple areas, in which it is
stated that birth order results show no conclusive findings(Parish, T., 1990).
This article just shows how far we have come in terms of research. Birth order affecting
personality was once a myth, which was carried by the coincidence that the first few astronauts
that went into space were all first born children (who are said to be over achievers and much
more brilliant). Now is more resent studies we can see that these myths carried some factual
conclusions based on more deeper thought and statistical data. After reviewing all of these

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resources I can relate these findings back to my personal sibling birth order. Most of the input
does match up and there are no drastic outliers.
Personality is no doubt a huge factor in ones life because it is the
reason why we make the choices we do in everyday life. Birth order can in
fact affect personality due to contributing factors such as timing, money, and
drawing conclusions as well as maintaining expectations. Those factors then
alter each individuals childs ability to coupe. This all creates a deviance
between first born, middle children and last born due to how intelligence
quotient and competiveness affects first-born children, how careers and
perfectionism affect middle children, and how religion and relationships
affect last-born children. More conclusive studies have been put out
confirming that IQ and personality are greatly affected by birth order
(Hartshorne, J., 2007). In conclusion although there are mixed feelings on the
topic it is clear to see that birth order may not affect all factors in life, but
major factors are influenced by everyday contributory factors faced at the
time of each individual birth.

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References:
family. (n.d.) Collins English Dictionary Complete and Unabridged. (1991,
1994, 1998, 2000, 2003). Retrieved April 2 2014
Hartshorne, J. (2007, June 22). How Birth Order Affects Your Personality.
Scientific American Global RSS. Retrieved April 2, 2014, from
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ruled-by-birth-order/
Janecka, L. (2010). Falling in line: the power of birth order. Psychology Today, 43(3), 24.
Parish, T. (1990). Evaluations of family by youth: Do they vary as a function of family structure,
gender, and birth.. Adolescence, 25(98), 353.

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