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How birth order affects a child's personality
Birth order pattern
How birth order affects a child's personality
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Birth order affects everything from personality and character traits to future relationships and career choices. The difference in birth order combined with how parents treat their causes the children to grow and develop differently from the siblings they may or may not have (Voo, Jocelyn). Family is the greatest influence on children growing up, and in what order they were born determines how their family treats them (Leman, Kevin). There are many contributing factors that cause children to grow up and become who they are, but birth order is considered to be one of the most crucial (Gross, Dr. Gail). In what order children are born in also relates to the size of their family. Someone might be an only child, or have multiple siblings. All that depends on how many children their parents choose to have. Having more children means that money, time, and attention have to be divided between the children (Hartshorne, Joshua). The first born child is likely to receive more attention from their parents, as apposed to a second born, who’s parents are likely to be less attentive the second time around. Kevin Leman said, “Every time a child is born, the entire family environment changes. How parents interact with each child as he or she enters the family circle determines in great part that child’s final destiny.” Being a first born child means that child is somewhat of an experiment for the parents. It also means they will be the only child to have their parents to themselves without them focusing on another child. The second born is likely to contain many of the same qualities of a first born, if he or she is the opposite gender as the previous (Voo, Jocelyn). Parents are likely to be just as attentive to the first born of that gender, ... ... middle of paper ... ... order in relationships can often lead to more happiness (Leman, Kevin). There are so many deciding factors that go into birth order that must be considered to completely understand why someone is the way that they are. A lot of it goes back to the parents and how they treat their child or children growing up, but in what order you were born in causes the parents to treat the child how they do. Works Cited Gross, Dr. Gail. “The Achiever, the Peacemaker, and the Life of the Party: How Birth Order Affects Personality”. Huffingtonpost. 2014. Web. 30 April 2014. Hartshorne, Joshua K. “How Birth Order Affects Your Personality”. Scientificamerican, 22 June 2002. Web. 30 April 2014. Leman, Kevin. The birth order book: why you are the way you are. Grand Rapids: Revell, 2009. Print. Voo, Jocelyn. “Birth order and personality”. Parents. August 2006. Web. 30 April 2014.
The first born is usually known as the leader, the great achiever, and the hopes and dreams of the family. The first born generally has a higher IQ, which tends to lead to them working in higher paid jobs, they are more prone to playing it safe, and they thrive when they accomplish new goals (Kluger 406-407). The first born
According to Adler the first born child is usually a caring, nurturing individual because he/she most likely grew up helping his/her parents care for their younger siblings. For this same reason, first borns are more likely to be well organized and more responsible than their younger siblings. Sense there are no other children around when their parents give birth to them, first borns are used to receiving their undivided attention and affection prior to their siblings arrival, and if their parents did not prepare them for the arrival of a new brother or sister it can have a negative effect on the first born, mak...
Alfred Adler also developed the birth order theory. Under this theory Adler expresses his belief that children’s personalities develop certain characteristics depending on the order of their birth (Schustack, 2012). According to this theory, first
‘Birth order theory can help explain why children raised in the same family environment with a strong genetic relationship can have such different personalities’ (Drysdale, 2011). The birth order theory says that ‘first-borns are leaders, the drivers and the responsible type. They love to feel in control and feel uncomfortable with surprises or feeling out of their depth. They are conservative in their outlook’ (Grose, 2013). The personality theory says that last-borns are majorly different to first-borns in their characteristics and traits. It states that last-borns are ‘the
Adler’s birth order plays a significant part in how we perceive our lives. Birth order is defined as “is not a deterministic concept but does increase an individual’s probability of having certain set of experiences” (Corey, 2013, p. 108). When we are born there is an automatic label that is placed upon us. We are the oldest or youngest or somewhere in between. Society fosters the idea of birth order and treats us accordingly.
Does birth order really affect who we are? Sigmund Freud was the first psychotherapist to say, " a child's position in the sequence of brother and sisters is of very great significance for one course of his later life." The type of person that we become stems from many things including birth order position, gender and the genders of the other siblings. Although personality is affected by many different factors, such as heredity, family size, the spacing and the gender of other siblings, education and upbringing, birth order plays a very important role and gives many clues as to why people are the was they are. Dr. Alfred Adler, a renowned psychiatrist, wrote that a person's position in the family leaves an undeniable "stamp" on his or her "style of living."
Birth order is a key element in gaining an understanding of one's self as well as other people. Through birth order placement, one develops a behavior pattern as well as ways of thinking and emotional responses. This effects all aspects of living such as, expectations, mental weaknesses, marriage, and spirituality. Understanding the birth order characteristics is a simple method in determining how and what makes another individual "tick."
The way one determines their place in the family seems like it should be easy, but because of many factors, it is not always clear. In a family with a first born daughter and a second born son, the son may also take on characteristics of a first born because he is the first born male. The same concept is applied when the female is born after a male. Another variable is the difference in age between children. If the younger child is five or more years younger than the child born before them, they are more likely to act as a first born or only child, depending if they have any younger siblings. An only child will have the same characteristi...
A layman would define personality as an individual’s characteristics in terms of how they think and behave. Many theorists, however, interprets personality differently resulting in various personality theories. Personality is determined by traits which are behaviours displayed by a person in most given situations. How a person reacts to common circumstances may also be used to foresee future behaviours. Traits are then categorized into types that allow easier comparisons to be made between each individual’s attributes. The focus of this paper would be on the biological aspects of personality whereby traits are thought to be inheritable through genetics and associated with the central nervous system. Behavioural genetics are research that makes use of results from studies done on family, twins and adoptions. The findings of how both genes and environment influences personality from the studies will be discussed. Some researchers found possible issues with the representativeness of such studies. The outline of Eysenck’s biological model of personality and arousal, Gray’s BAS/BIS theory and Cloninger’s biological model of personality will further explain the biological effect on personality.
Since I am interested in birth order, and the differences between my brother and I, I chose to read an article entitled What Parents Learn From Experience: The First Child as a First Draft? Shawn D. Whiteman wrote this article, with corresponding research by Susan M. McHale, and Ann C. Crouter. This particular article explains the differences in parenting between two children within the same family that are about two years apart in age. The words describe what many parents learn the first time around with their first-born child, and how their parenting styles change with the second child. Parents tend to be more easy going with the second child, and therefore discipline is seen less towards the younger child compared to the older child. Also, this article explains that most parents are less worried about the older child when they are out of the house, compared to the younger child one. Younger children tend to be checked up on more then the older kids, but older children tend to have less opportunities then the younger ones do.
Many factors can shape a persons a personality, it could be their environment, peers, family, siblings, but one wouldn’t think that their birth order can too. The last factor will be the one topic I will be getting into more depth in this essay. Either being born first or last it will have a huge impact on your personality (Parents magazine 2006). The first to introduce the theory of the impact birth order has on personality was psychologist Alfred Adler in the early 20th century. This started a new interest in many on this research (Lesley Ogden 2013). His theory suggest the common personality traits each first, middle, and last borns have. Let me start off with the first born of the family and work my way down. The first born is the child the family “practices” on you could say. First time parents have no experience on parenting, and they want to try their best on raising a good child which causes them to be stricter. This causes them to put more pressure on the first borns to do better at everything they do. Which can make them become perfectionists and high achievers. But they want to be noticed and praised by their parents when they do well. This too however develops them to become leaders, especially if they have siblings their parents want them to set an example for (Brooks 1984). Independence, reliability, and respect for authority are other traits that this group may has. They are highly intelligent and get high qualifications in school. They can also be serious and very mature for their age. Because of this nature, this group tends to get along really well with their elders. The pressure of carrying responsibilities (and at times even being forced upon) at an early age can bring negative factors. For the reason that it c...
A study done by A. P. MacDonald Jr. in West Virginia University about Birth Rate and Personality in 1969, investigated for birth order differences in 2 sample of undergraduate students, the first sample of students in the first investigation were 786 students from the university, with 339 males & 447 females, the sample contained 86 only child (36 males & 50 females), 294 first born (145 males & 149 female), 406 later born (158 males & 248 females). After collecting the sample, subjects were ask for short personal history which include birth order, and were measured
Do we ever think of past experiences or past events and wonder if they had any influence on our personalities? Whether or not that day affected the way that we are today? We are indeed most vulnerable to various impacts in our childhoods. In fact, Deborah Serani, Psychology Doctor said: “It can be argued that personality actually begins before birth, with each parent’s genetics influencing the development of temperament -- a behavioural response style. After birth, a child’s prewired temperament, personal, and social experiences will set the stage for personality development.” Until we are 7 years old, our personalities should be fairly developed. Everything that occurred throughout these years contributed to form our behaviours and reactions
As I said, I do not believe birth order has very much to do with the personality of a person. If a last child grows up penniless and has a lousy home life, he will not act like a last child who has a rich family and a marvelous suburban home. However, multiple of the things that many people said about how birth order affects the personality do describe me. The one that relates to me the greatest is definitely the fact that I am easy going. I never really let anything get too serious and I let things go once they are in the past. Also as Jocelyn Voo claims the middle child is very social, I would have to agree with her. I would rather be out with my pals having a wonderful time than be stuck at home doing nothing. Another quality that describes be excellently is the middle child takes pleasure in having a great time. If there is chance I can have good time, I will take that chance and expect for the best.
Sulloway, F. J. (September 1997). Birth order and personality. Harvard Mental Health Letter, 14, 5-7