Sibling Structure

 Everyone who has siblings knows that the order in which your born seems to have drastic effects on your overall personality. Many scientists have performed studies over the years into whether the order in which your born effects your personality. Most tests came to similar results, however, due to the media many people have put out their own opinions into the world and fact and fiction have become merged. So what effect does birth order really have?

Oldest children tend to be the perfectionists of the family. While the oldest child is being raised, parents generally have no idea what they’re doing. This leads to strict rules and high expectations being set for their children from a young age. As these children grow up, they continue the mindset that was instilled with them as children that they need to strive to prove themselves. This leads to them becoming high achievers and sometimes controlling.

By the time parents get to their middle children, they already know what to expect and are therefore much less rule based. In fact, middle children are know to get the least amount of attention from their parents during childhood. Due to this lack of notice, middle children tend to become people pleasers to make up for it. They are the most social of the siblings and are known to be the biggest rule breakers.

            The youngest children are similar to the middle children in the sense that most parents have become much more easy going by the time their born. However, unlike the middle children the youngest get almost constant attention from their parents. This means they grow up in the spotlight and continue trying to stay as the center of attention for the rest of their lives. They’re very outgoing and charismatic, but are also known to be very manipulative.

Although these personality traits are common for each of the siblings, every family is different. Still, it’s interesting to look at the ways a different order of birth can effect the way a child is raised by the same parents.