The Influence Of Birth Order On Personality

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The Influence of Birth Order on Personality

Contents
Introduction 1
Method 3
Results 4
Discussion 5

Introduction

Numerous studies have shown correlation between birth rate and personality. Birth rate can be defined as the ratio of total live births to that of the total population, in a specific community during a certain period of time. It is usually expressed in numbers of live birth over 1000 population in a year. Birth order is believed to have a lasting effect on psychological development. On the other hand, personality refers to a set of behaviors and mental characteristics possessed by an individual that makes him/her unique, in another words, it’s the distinctive qualities of an individual, and it is made up of the way we think, …show more content…

In each of this 5 broad category, there are more personality traits that describe an individual. It is said that individual in the same birth order will have similar traits with others, for instance, the eldest child of the family would be a natural born leader or will be a responsible person. Past studies have claimed that these assumptions are true, but other findings have showed that these assumptions may be vary.

A study done by A. P. MacDonald Jr. in West Virginia University about Birth Rate and Personality in 1969, investigated for birth order differences in 2 sample of undergraduate students, the first sample of students in the first investigation were 786 students from the university, with 339 males & 447 females, the sample contained 86 only child (36 males & 50 females), 294 first born (145 males & 149 female), 406 later born (158 males & 248 females). After collecting the sample, subjects were ask for short personal history which include birth order, and were measured …show more content…

The results were, later born from 2-child families were more external than larger size families and first born and only child from 2-child families; only child and first born were more socially responsible than later born; only child and later born were less rigid than first born; and only female subjects manifested higher need for approval compare to

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