Middle Child Research Paper

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Rashed Alkhazaleh Eng 101 Prof. Ricci 2-12-18 The Middle Child Parent-child relationships, as well as sibling relationships, are essential aspects of a person's life especially life transitions. One of the defining events in families is the level of parent-child conflict, whether between the child with his parents or his siblings. The frequency and intensity of conflict between the parent and the child are also highly dependent on the birth order. As it emerges, children who are born in the middle tend to have fewer and less intense conflicts with their parents in what sociologists refer to as the middle child syndrome. I will examine how and why the middle child tends to have it easier for them admitting with some factors considered. …show more content…

The first child in the family is the most anticipated by the parents. Moreover, very few parents have experience in parenting the first child and in the course of their trial and error policy, the parents will tend to give the child their full attention. While this attention is good, it is also characterized by a lot of parental restrictions and other conflicts because the parents are not really sure about what they are doing. The middle-born child does not suffer from the same amount of conflicts because there is little focus on them from the parents. Moreover, with the parents now experienced on parenting, they will often only intervene when necessary and this reduces the number and intensity of conflicts with the middle child (Brendgen et al 2033). However, when the first child moves away from the family, the middle child in the family starts experiencing conflicts with the family because the attention focuses on them (Whiteman, McHale, and Crouter

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