Running head: Personality and Birth Order 1

Personality and Birth Order

Following the American Psychological Association’s Guidelines

Maureen Peres

Adelphi University
Running head: Personality and Birth Order 2

Personality and Birth Order

How does your birth order affect your personality? According to research the

order of our birth has a significant impact on our personality. There are many

contributing factors such as gender, size of family and the age between siblings.

Children may be born to the same set of parents but this does not make them the

same (Dunkel, Harbke & Papini 2009.) Your birth order changes the dynamic of

your experiences. First-born children have been given the advantage of being an

only child and having the undivided attention of their parents. They usually are the

spotlights of the family. They are known to be born leaders. Their personality traits

tend to be, perfectionists, responsible, and highly motivated to succeed. They are the

children that worry most about the approval of their elders. A firstborn child is

usually aggressive and confident. They become the caretaker of siblings, which

makes them feel a sense of empowerment over their younger brothers and sisters.

Parents have a lot of time to give a first born child therefore they are usually

smarter and more patient (Eckstein and Kaufman 2012.) One of the most heated

disputes of all time was between Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler. Adler believed

that first and lastborn children suffered from neuroses caused by their position in

birth order. They struggled to be the best and most successful. Middle children were

healthier, more easygoing and rebellious. Of course Adler was a middle child
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(Damian & Roberts 2014.) Freud being a first born child did not like this idea and

was in dispute with Adler over it (Damian & Roberts 2014.) Alfred Adler was an

Austrian medical doctor and a psychotherapist. He believed that your birth order

predicted your personality yet he did not actually do any research on it. He has

many followers that have continued his belief in birth order and its link to

personality that they have actually researched it. Firstborn people you may know

are Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Dahmer (Lorenz 2016).

Children that are middle children have a different personality all together.

When a parent has other children they are no longer giving their 100% attention or

time to this one child. Their time and attention are now split between several

children. Middle children were afforded the gift of having parents that have now

been seasoned. Their parents are not as nervous or new as a first-born child has.

Middle children are the most adaptable children. They are also known to be

rebellious, and the mediator. They do not like conflict. A middle child is more

secretive than a first-born child. They feel like they are left out, not the spotlight and

that they lack attention. This leads to middle children being the most secretive of the

group. They are independent, inventive and resourceful. Famous people born as

middle children are David Letterman, Warren Buffet, Martin Luther King Jr. and

Princess Diana (Lorenz 2016)

Children that were born last tend to be the spoiled, adventurous children.

Their parents are not only seasoned but they had help raising this child and they at

this point tend to be lazier than they were with the older kids. These children are

more social and even tend to be the “class clowns.” They are known to be financially
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irresponsible, manipulative and spoiled. They youngest children seem to learn

things sooner than their siblings because they learn and followed their older

siblings. They are known to be wise beyond their years. Some famous babies of the

family are Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, Rosie O’Donnell, and Jim Carry (Lorenz 2016)

Children that are only children will follow the same rules as a first-born child.

There is a difference however; only children unlike first-born children do not like to

share. They are more self-centered. They are usually very mature and tend to fit in

better with adults than they do children. They are very comfortable being the center

of attention and tend to be well organized. They are also very hard on themselves.

They are not quick to forgive themselves and move on. Some famous only children

are, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Alicia Keys and Natalie Portman.

There have been many studies done to show the link between personality

and birth order. Rodica Ioana Damian and Brent W. Roberts did a research project

on a sample of U.S. high school students to test birth order with personality traits

and intelligence. The name of this research report was called “Project Talent.” They

used a random sample (N=377,000) of high school students. They wanted to see the

links between birth rank and social categories. The mean age was 15.81 (SD=1.26).

Participants were asked two questions to determine birth order. The Project Talent

Personality Inventory included 150 items from which ten different scale composites

were scored and recorded. Overall birth order association was lower than with

prior research. The conclusion of this research states that they found very small

associations between birth order and personality, with an average absolute

being .04 and a maximum overall associate of .08 for verbal ability where the higher
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scores were for firstborns. Although he direction of some effects supported the

hypothesized relation between birth order and personality they concluded that the

magnitude of the effect would indicate that it is not an important consideration to

either outcome (Damian & Roberts 2014.) In another research project that tested a

sample of 231 college students with the NEO Five Factor Inventory (83 male, and

148 female) ranging from the ages of 17 to 21 (M=18.5, SD .9) similar findings were

found. The test concluded that no birth order differences were found for any of the

five NEO-FFI scores using any of the three rating sources. Effect sizes (Cohen’s d)

were less than .20 (Marini & Kurtz 2011.) Although both research reports found

some correlation it was too low to conclude that personality and birth order are

linked.

Birth order in a three-child family will differ from that of an eight-child

family. The more children the more “middle children.” Another factor in

determining the effect of birth order is family dynamic. Children that have half

siblings can have different birth order effects. Birth order effects also come from the

treatment a child receives from a parent and according to test findings they are not

enough to conclude that their personality is determinate on their birth order. Birth-

order effects on personality are the result of many different scenarios, the age of

parents, the marital status of the parents, the social class of the family etc. (Dunkel,

Harbke, & Papini 2009).

Personally, I believe that your birth order does have a part to play in

personality. I cannot believe that birth order is stereotypical. As a mother I believe

that I had much more time to give my first born, I was more worried about him than
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the last two. I overcompensated because I had time, I could. When I had my last

child, Melissa my son Michael was eight. He helped me do some of the things I did

for him. Siblings catered to Melissa and being the baby she was more spoiled.

Michael was the first therefore I hung on his every breath. My daughters still swear

he is my favorite. My middle child, Krysten is the best of both worlds. She is mature

yet she is not spoiled. She suffers horribly from middle child syndrome. She is now

twenty-four and will tell you she is lost in the mix. She does not know that I see her

the most. I enjoyed doing this paper even tough my findings did not come out the

way I had hoped.

References

Damian, R. I., & Roberts, B. W. (2015, May). The associations of birth order with

personality and intelligence in a representative sample of U.S. high school

students. Retrieved April 1, 2017, from

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092656615000525

Dunkel, C. S., Harbke, C. R., & Papini, D. R. (2009, May 31). Direct and Indirect Effects

of Birth Order on Personality and Identity: Support for the Null Hypothesis.

Retrieved April 4, 2017, from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ861896

Eckstein, D., & Kaufman, J. A. (2012). The Role of Birth Order in Persoanlity: An

Enduring Intellectual Legacy of Alfred Adler. The Journal of Individual

Psychology, 68(1), 60-74.

Lorenz, K. (2016, July 14). Oldest, Middle, Youngest: Who's Most Successful? Retrieved

March 22, 2017, from https://www.aol.com/article/2009/01/26/oldest-middle-

youngest-whos-most-successful/1441190/

Marini, V. A., & Kurtz, J. E. (2007, July). Birth order differences in normal personality

traits: Perspectives from within and outside the family. Retrieved March 26, 2017,

from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019188691100345X