How Birth Order and Family Size Affect Personality Traits

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Recommended: Literature Review of Birth Order Effects on Personality and Achievement within Families

Is there a “personality tag” for each child depending on their birth order? Does the family size, or the parents’ life styles affect anything? Birth order is more than just an old wives’ tale about predicting the personalities of each child in every family. Blair states, “Birth order, put in its proper context, is a key that can unlock personalities and give you a new perspective on human nature” (1). Every child of every family has a personality tag, which is determined by their spot on their immediate family tree. Family size and birth order are factors that make the “personality tag” for the first born, middle child, last born, and only child of each family. To begin, family size affects every child’s personality. Birth order and family size are linked together. If a family has many children, parental resources are spread thinly. For example: money, time, and attention. Ethnicity, wealth, education, and other social factors of parents also affect the family size. Parents that are educated, comfortable, and wealthy, usually have fewer children. The offspring of parents with that lifestyle have smaller families. In behalf of this, the children’s personalities are affected. For instance, if a child has more resources either social or parental, the child may be more selfish than one with a larger family and less resources (How Birth Order Affects Your Personality 1). In conclusion, family size in the sense of resources and lifestyle affect the personalities of one’s child. In addition to family size being an agent to affect the identity, children born first experience life alone for a period of time. This creates stronger personality traits. Parents have different expectations for the first born child. The eldest child has hig... ... middle of paper ... ...1567/First-born-piggy-Middle-Or-Baby-How-Place-family-rules-life.html>. "How Birth Order Affects Your Personality." Scientific American Global RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. . "It's My Life . Family . Birth Order | PBS Kids GO!" It's My Life . Family . Birth Order | PBS Kids GO! N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Apr. 2014. . Leman, Kevin. The Birth Order Book. New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell, 1984. Print. "Personality Traits Linked To Birth Order." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 10 June 2002. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. . "That Elusive Birth Order Effect and What It Means." Psychology Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. .

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