The Favorite Child Case Study

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Recommended: Large-scale studies on the effect of birth order on personality characteristics A) have found that first-born children are more conservative and conforming than later-born children

WHAT I KNEW: Growing up I always knew I was inferior to my older brother. I’m the second and last born and they never let me forget it. It wasn’t until this year that there was an actual name for how I felt I was treated. The second child born is usually the rebellious one and in this case; that’s me. I felt that I was very much impacted by my birthing order. I wanted to learn more about why I was the inferior one. Sibling rivalries are a given, but there is so much that derives from the order you were born in. Whether you are the first born, second born, middle child, or 10 years apart from another sibling. Every middle/ second/ third child has heard the phrase; Why can’t you be like your older sibling? I can only remember so many times that this has happened to me. In one specific situation I was given back a report card that was rather disappointing. I was looked straight …show more content…

Author of The Favorite Child: How a Favorite Impacts Every Family Member for Life., Dr. Ellen Libby, expresses her concern. She believes that in a family, one child is the favorite, either the first or last born. “They’re more likely to be depressed because they spent so much of their lives trying to court parental favor that they may not have developed their own personality.” Dr. Libby also explains how often parents are unable to accept that this occurs in their household. “When parents deny its existence, they are less able to pay attention to the more important concern of how their children experience favoritism. The more unaware parents are of their own displays of favoring one child, or overlooking or neglecting another, the more unable parents are to grasping the impact of favoritism on their children.” This favoritism can manifest in many ways. The disfavored children may become more depressed, have greater aggressiveness, lower self-esteem, and poorer academic

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