Does Birth Order have an effect on an individual’s personality, social skills, and success in life?

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“Most people have an intuitive knowledge that birth order somehow has an impact on development, but they underestimate how far reaching and just how significant that impact is.” Birth order describes not only what order a child is born into a family but also has an effect on an individual's personality, social skills, and success in life. If you are a first born child, does that mean you are a perfectionist, tend to be a natural leader, and are more successful than your younger siblings? Does being born last make you less able to compete in life? First born children often possess personality traits such as being conscientious, very organized, and goal oriented which causes them to be very successful in life. Often times, the first born child is extremely driven with perfectionistic tendencies which enable them to achieve their life goals and expectations. To illustrate this point, we need to look no further than the following statistic. Sixty-four percent of the United States presidents have been first borns or functional first borns, which is a term based on how many years there are between them and their next closest sibling in age. This statistic about first born presidents compares to only five presidents who were the babies of their families. Most presidents display the majority of the characteristics described previously as well as being natural born leaders, scholarly, and critical. There are many other areas and careers where first borns have been more successful than their younger siblings. Some examples include Lee Iacocca who was a CEO, Mia Farrow who is an actress, and Cal Ripken who is a Hall of Fame baseball player. Birth order affects social skills and relationships as well. Unlike the ... ... middle of paper ... ...0. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. Pawlik-Kienlen, Laurie. "How Birth Order Changes Your Life - Family aaaaaPsych."Suite101.com. Suite101 Media Inc., 1 Nov. 2007. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. Pickhardt, Carl. "The Adolescent Only Child | Psychology Today." Psychology Today: aaaaaHealth, Help, Happiness + Find a Therapist. 19 July 2009. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. Richardson, Ronald W., and Lois A. Richardson. Birth Order and You: How Your Sex and Position in the Family Affects Your Personality and Relationships. North Vancouver, B.C.: Self-Counsel, 1990. Toler, Sarah. "Understanding The Birth Order Relationship." Women's Health Issues. Lifescript, 18 Oct. 2007. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. aaaaa Zupek, Rachel. "Can Birth Order Determine Your Career? - CNN.com." CNN.com International - Breaking, World, Business, Sports, Entertainment and Video News. 22 Oct. 2008. Web. 30 Jan. 2012.

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