How Does Birth Order Effect Personality?

Something that I have always found interesting is how different siblings are from one
another. I have always wondered why, if you are raised by the same parent(s), sibling are so
different. It had me thinking that maybe birth order played a role in childrens personalities. I am
a middle child. So, I wanted to look at the perspective of how being a middle child specifically,
affects your personality. In my family I am the third child of four and all of our personalities are
very different. When my mother describes each of her children she tends to describe each of their
personalities with all the good traits and sometimes one or two of their less desirable traits. My
oldest sisters are both very outgoing, tend to want to lead everything, are strong-willed, and
opinionated. When my mom describes me she describes me as opinionated, the peacemaker of
the family, independent, and that I keep to myself about the things going on in my life; which I
think perfectly describes me. My youngest brother is definitely the baby of the family; he is
funny, social, generally gets everything he wants, but also tends to not care about the
consequences of his actions. So, if we are all raised by the same parents, why are our
personalities so different?
When a child is born, whether they are the oldest, middle, or youngest child there tends to
be a stereotype that comes a lot with each of those titles. According to the Birth Order and its
Effects educational video the oldest child tends to get a lot of attention, a lot of glory, but also a
lot of pressure along with that. According to this video which was produced by films media
group this child is the parents first child so, everything they do is special and they get praise for
almost anything they do. However, because they are the first child they are on a parental learning
curve and the parents to to be stricter with them and expect them to have more responsibility.
The films media group also states that Middle children tend to feel inadequate. They are in the

middle so, they tend to get compared to the oldest sibling and not do well because of the pressure
that implies. They also do not get much praise for the things they do because it is nothing new
or exciting to the parents so, in order to get recognition, they typically go outside of the home for
that. The films media groups video on birth order and its effects also states that they also have
difficulty expressing emotions, are opinionated, and the most vulnerable of all birth orders.
However, they also tend to be good at compromise, the mediator of the family, and have good
people skills. The youngest child is the baby of the family and crave attention. Since, they are
so used to getting all of the attention it can make them charming and even manipulative. They
tend to be funny, carefree, and very social but they can also be impatient, temperamental, and do
not think about the consequences of their actions. When I watched this video I realized that these
things very nearly described me and my siblings. However, some of these characteristics do not
describe me.
Being the stereotypical middle child means feeling forgotten. However, I never felt that
way and neither did my other middle sister. Growing up sometimes my younger brother received
more attention and my older sister may have gotten more recognition but that didnt mean I was
left out. Sometimes I got more recognition and praise for things I did than my siblings; that is
just how things were balanced within my family. My other middle sister and I had just as much
attention, love, and had my parents at every sporting event and school play. In Birth Order and
Life Roles by Lucille K. Forer. she states that a middle child, unlike the oldest child or youngest
child, never feels like they own the parents and normally do not have an as close and intense
relationship with them. She says that is is not because the parents love the middle child less than
the oldest and youngest child like people may think, but everyday contact with the middle child
is normally divided between the other children. However, this still does not apply to me, my

parents have always been very attentive to me and I have a close relationship with them,
although I may not tell them about everything going on in my life. Then I came across What
Research Shows About Birth Order, Personality, and IQ by Herbert Yahraes. He stated that birth
spacing also was another factor influencing personality. Birth spacing is the space between
which each child is born. My older sisters are 13 and 10 years older than me and my younger
brother is only 19 months younger than me. That age gap could be another influencing factor on
our personalities. In the article To the Manner Born - Order of Birth is a Factor in Development
of Personality, but Traits can be Altered by Joan Cary they interviewed a mom. She said that her
first born is 11 and the typical leader, her second born is 9, and more comfortable as a follower
but her third child,4, although technically a middle child, takes on more leadership qualities and
takes responsibility over the fourth born 2-year-old child. According to the Article to the
Manner Born by Joan Cary this is because of the 5-year age gap between the second and third
child and is a prime example of how birth spacing can affect personalities as well as birth order.
This situation perfectly describes my family. Growing up my mother has always told me that I
am like my younger brothers second mom. I think that I do play the older sibling role because of
the age gap because my sisters have not lived in my home for half my life. It is almost as if I am
the oldest sibling now. This could explain why I do not feel as if I fit the typical middle child
stereotype although, I still do portray some middle child characteristics.
With some information very accurately describing my place in my family but other things
not matching up it had me wonder if birth order really does have any effect on personality. That
is when I came across Birth Order Stereotypes May Not Be True by Tanya Basu. In this article
she states that there may not be much proof as to if birth order affects personality- at least not by
the measures assessed by a team of German researchers. These researchers did a study on

approximately 20,000 families from three different countries by having them answer a survey
that had questions about birth order, IQ, and also the five stand aspects of personality which are
extroversion, emotional stability, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and imagination. This date
showed little statistical significance on how birth order affected those five aspects of personality.
However, as stated in Birth Order Stereotypes May Not Be True by Tanya Basu, earlier
research did not focus on the five standard aspects of society so, how they were both assessed is
different and that could be why it yielded different results. Researchers are divided on the issue
of whether birth order affects personality or whether that is just a myth.
Based on the research I found, I am not able to come to the conclusion on whether birth
order affects personality or not. I, as a middle child, display some of the characteristics and
personality traits that were described yet, other things, such as feeling inadequate and not getting
as much attention as much attention from my parents as my siblings, were false. Also, there is
contradictory data. Some of the studies showed proof that birth order affects personality yet,
other articles said that those studies produced false information. Also, in most research I came
across is says that not only does birth order play a role in personality but also parenting as well
as birth spacing. This means that personalities could differ between families because of
circumstances making saying that birth order completely affects personality wrong. However, it
could still play a part in the development of personality. Also, researchers were split as to
whether there was enough information on how birth order affects personality so, the data is
inconclusive. This has made me come to the conclusion that whether birth order affects
personality can not be determined and even if it is true, depends on each family and some
families could defy the typical norm.

Works Cited
Basu, Tanya. Birth Order Stereotypes May Not Be True. Time.com Oct. 2015. Web. 3 Nov.
2015.
Birth Order and Its Effects. New York, N.Y: Films Media Group, 2005. Internet resource.
Cary, Joan. To the Manner Born - Order of Birth Is a Factor in Development of Personality.
Forer, Lucille K. Birth Order and Life Roles. Illinois: Charles C Thomas, 1969. Print.
Washington Times 4 Dec. 1996. NewsBank. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.
Yahraes, Herbert. What Research Shows About Birth Order. Maryland: DHEW Publication No.
(ADM) 78-638, 1978. Print.