How does birth order affect your personality?
@berryliciousme (1003)
Philippines
January 21, 2008 8:18am CST
There are some studies which says birth order affects personality and intelligence.
According to Dr. Kevin Leman:
First Borns - Eldest children are natural leaders and high achievers. They pay attention to detail and are organized. They can be moody and insensitive to other's feelings. They can be bad at delegating because they do not trust others as much as they trust themselves. That;s why they are often stressed out. In control, but stressed out.
Middle Children - Middle children are often people pleasers. They are usually calm, down to earth and great listeners. They make excellent negotiators. They are less driven than their older sibling but more eager to be liked- that is why they have troubles setting limits.
Youngest Children - They usually have great people skills and love to entertain. They are most likely to take the risk because they get bored quickly. They also fear rejection and have a short attention span.
Only Children -They are task oriented, well-organized and dependable. They feel comfortable with responsibility but they can be demanding and unforgiving and they hate to admit that they are wrong. They are sensitive and their feelings are easily hurt.
Do you agree with this one?
2 people like this
5 responses
@evangleen (218)
• India
4 Feb 08
hi,
I am younger then my only sis.and somhoe it feels these traits are really true......and thats really very interesting discussion to be read.....
@dramaqn (1990)
• United States
26 Jan 08
Yes, I believe that this holds some truth. I have read other facts though, that are sort of similar to what you have written. I definitely think that the people pleaser thing of wanting to be liked is true with my fiance. But it gets so more detailed, and I recall researching that for him, because I had stated something about his birth order being partial blame for how he was. And it was so on point. The first born thing is definitely true, that is so my brother. But not only that, also if there are younger children the space between the siblings have a part to play also. For instance, my best friend is 15 years older than her sister, and therefore her younger sister will also diplay signs of being an only child just because she was the only child in the house. As well as myself, when my brother,6yrs older than me went to the Army when I was in junior high. However, being the youngest everything written is so me.
Thank you for posting this discussion, this is an awsome topic.
@arkaf61 (10881)
• Canada
22 Jan 08
I do agree with that, in general. Of course there are many more elements that change of form a child regardless of their birth order.
For example, I am the younger child, but I am also the only child because I never lived with my sister. We were adopted by two different people so each one of us was really a only child.
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
26 Jan 08
As I read this, various families came to my mind, including my own. I must admit, it fits several of the oldest siblings I know pretty well and it describes my daughter, who is an only child, surprisingly well. I’m the youngest child and it’s got me about half-right and half-wrong. I don’t know what other factors went into this study but I would guess some of these traits are just coincidental. An oldest child who was put in charge of his or her younger siblings regularly would probably develop leadership and organizational skills through necessity. I can see how they would be bad a delegating and prefer being in control. I think these traits could just as easily be caused by environment as by birth order. If you took children out of the environment into which they were born and placed them in a different situation their personalities may well be different. This is interesting and I’m going to start looking more closely at families I know to see who fits these profiles and who doesn’t.
Annie
@scshissler (109)
• United States
21 Jan 08
I have also heard that first-borns are more likely to be frugal.
