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How birth order affects a child's personality
How birth order affects a child's personality
How birth order affects a child's personality
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A typical family of three kids sits at the dinner table. The oldest is going on about how she has just one the school another basketball game by breaking the tie in the last seconds. The middle child is just staring at her plate and wishing her older sister for just five minutes out of the day could just keep her mouth shut. All this goes on while the youngest brother sits across from them making faces and giggling. This is the mold for an average family with three children. The oldest is the perfectionist, the middle is the loner, and the youngest is the comedian (Birth). The family across the street is also sitting at dinner. The difference between the two is the fact that they only have one child. The child with a perfect grade point average, only older friends, and intelligence that sometimes rubs people the wrong way (It’s). All of these children’s personalities can be explained through the order of which they were all born. Birth order does not just state what number someone is in the family, but it also correlates to the overall personality of a person. Children born first in a household are the ones who normally achieve the most. Not only that, but they’re also highly reliable and usually smarter (It’s). According to a survey done about heads of corporations “...43% of the people who occupy the big chair room are firstborns, 33% are middle-borns, and 23% are last-borns” (Kluger 2). This sort of data is not just relative to now, though. Teddy Roosevelt, the twenty-sixth president of the United States, is an example of a successful, well nurtured first born child compared to his less-than-successful alcoholic brother, Elliott Roosevelt (Kluger 1). It is thought that these first born children are more successful because of t... ... middle of paper ... ...nt/birth_order.shtml>. "It's My Life . Family . Birth Order | PBS Kids GO!." PBS KIDS: Educational Games, Videos and Activities For Kids!. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. . Kluger, Jeffrey. "The Power of Birth Order - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. . Stossel, John. "Does Birth Order Determine Personality? - ABC News." ABCNews.com: Breaking News, Politics, World News, Good Morning America, Exclusive Interviews - ABC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. . "The Effects Of Birth Order On Personality." The Effects Of Birth Order On Personality. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. .
When I was a child I thought everybody’s family would be the same, just your average family like mine and yours. My life as a child was a carefree life, I didn’t care for much, except stuff like doctors or dentist, I’ve done pretty much what an average kid did, I thought we had a good life going. When I went to my classmate’s house or meet their family they seemed like they were average to me. I never thought about how us as a family would have any trouble in the world, I was wrong.
The character’s is the movie, Parenthood, are a perfect example of Adler’s birth order theory. Throughout the movie we witness five siblings interacting with each other and raising their children: Helen, Gil, Susan and Larry Buckman. It is quite interesting to see how these five siblings, although they grew up under the same roof, are so vastly different in personality and in their parenting styles. It is also interesting to see how the environment in which each sibling was raised in, had such an impact on the way they raise their own children.
The first born is usually known as the leader, the great achiever, and the hopes and dreams of the family. The first born generally has a higher IQ, which tends to lead to them working in higher paid jobs, they are more prone to playing it safe, and they thrive when they accomplish new goals (Kluger 406-407). The first born
...n individual. The result can also be the same, though there is a variability among personalities. Both Kohlberg and Erikson have strong theories about how personalities are formed in early ages with direct focus on the parents.
‘Birth order theory can help explain why children raised in the same family environment with a strong genetic relationship can have such different personalities’ (Drysdale, 2011). The birth order theory says that ‘first-borns are leaders, the drivers and the responsible type. They love to feel in control and feel uncomfortable with surprises or feeling out of their depth. They are conservative in their outlook’ (Grose, 2013). The personality theory says that last-borns are majorly different to first-borns in their characteristics and traits. It states that last-borns are ‘the
Adler’s birth order rings true for many people. As I was reading over the different birth orders, I started thinking of different family members and friends. I wanted to see how they measured up to Adler’s concept of birth order. I found myself stereotyping my friends and family, which is hard
My name is Rosalind Marie Claire. I have two brothers, one older and one younger, and two sisters, also one older and one younger. Which makes me stuck smack-dab in the middle, and let me tell you what if you were a middle child growing up in a house with only two bathrooms one of which us kids can’t go into because that’s our parents master bathroom, it sucks.
The patterns of birth order have been seen for centuries, although it was not studied exclusively until around the 1980s. There are many factors that play into a persons personality, such as their genetics, the way they are raised, and their environment. Birth order looks at a persons place in their family—if they are the oldest, middle, or youngest child—and provides commonalities between them and others in the same location in other families. While there are many variations, the general traits do apply. Research shows that the first born is typically a leader in the family and in other areas of life. The youngest child is usually light hearted and social. The one that is hardest to put a type to is the middle child. He or she will frequently try to blaze their own path, straying from the one that their older sibling made. I believe that birth order plays a part in a person’s personality, but that the way they were raised is also a very important variable. A child’s birth order, along with the way they were raised, is a major factor in the way they interact within their family and other groups.
A layman would define personality as an individual’s characteristics in terms of how they think and behave. Many theorists, however, interprets personality differently resulting in various personality theories. Personality is determined by traits which are behaviours displayed by a person in most given situations. How a person reacts to common circumstances may also be used to foresee future behaviours. Traits are then categorized into types that allow easier comparisons to be made between each individual’s attributes. The focus of this paper would be on the biological aspects of personality whereby traits are thought to be inheritable through genetics and associated with the central nervous system. Behavioural genetics are research that makes use of results from studies done on family, twins and adoptions. The findings of how both genes and environment influences personality from the studies will be discussed. Some researchers found possible issues with the representativeness of such studies. The outline of Eysenck’s biological model of personality and arousal, Gray’s BAS/BIS theory and Cloninger’s biological model of personality will further explain the biological effect on personality.
Since I am interested in birth order, and the differences between my brother and I, I chose to read an article entitled What Parents Learn From Experience: The First Child as a First Draft? Shawn D. Whiteman wrote this article, with corresponding research by Susan M. McHale, and Ann C. Crouter. This particular article explains the differences in parenting between two children within the same family that are about two years apart in age. The words describe what many parents learn the first time around with their first-born child, and how their parenting styles change with the second child. Parents tend to be more easy going with the second child, and therefore discipline is seen less towards the younger child compared to the older child. Also, this article explains that most parents are less worried about the older child when they are out of the house, compared to the younger child one. Younger children tend to be checked up on more then the older kids, but older children tend to have less opportunities then the younger ones do.
...ement motivation has nothing to do with birth order, and others say otherwise. Few studies show how the birth order does not affect the achievement motivation in individuals (Toni Falbo 1981, Healey and Ellis 2007, Reese, Averett and Argys 2008, Srivastava 2011). What careers do each of these groups most commonly pursue? First borns since they are considered the very intellectual ones they tend to go for high professional careers. For the middle- borns and the babies of the family, with their risk-taking, and laid back personalities they go for artistic careers (Brooks 1984, and USA Today 2002). This once again comes down to the influence parents put on their children, they put a heavy load on first borns on getting a really good career, but the time later borns are choosing their career paths they have eased up and allow them to take more risks (USA Today 2002).
Television families nowadays are usually portrayed as happy, open-minded and the typical family. They attempt to represent the lifestyle and situations that real-life families go through; however, their depictions are not always accurate. An example would be the Duncan family and the Lee family. The Duncan family plays on the children’s television show, “Good Luck Charlie”, in which it focuses on their life as they adjust to the births of their fourth and fifth children. The Duncan family consists of seven household members including the mother and father. On the other side, the Lee family is a real-life family that has an average income and consists of four household members. The Lee family can be considered a typical nuclear family. The similarities and differences of these two families can be distinguished under family roles, social interaction, and behavior.
Gross, Dr. Gail. “The Achiever, the Peacemaker, and the Life of the Party: How Birth Order Affects Personality”. Huffingtonpost. 2014. Web. 30 April 2014.
The story from the vantage point of the family’s position in the family life cycle.
Sulloway, F. J. (September 1997). Birth order and personality. Harvard Mental Health Letter, 14, 5-7