Birth Order and the Effect on Your Personality
Birth order and the effect it has on your personality
Some parents often wonder, what, if any, effect birth order will have on their children's personalities. Genetic factors and other influences play a significannot role, but the birth order within the family plays a larger role in determining the personality of children. Countless academic studies say your place in the family is such a strong factor in developing your personality that it can have a major influence on the rest of your life. Alfred Adler, an Austrian psychiatrist and former disciple of Freud, acknowledge environmental influences such as social class, geographic origin and relationship with parents as factors in the development of personality. But it was birth order and relationship with siblings that was the single most reliable predictor of human nature (Udall). Joy Berthoud, author of "Pecking Order," had read and been convinced by this and researched and confirmed it. "I am a journalist and wanted to stand it up myself," she says. Hundreds of interviews later, she had her proof. "Without exception, everyone I spoke to displayed the characteristics of their position in the family pecking order." There are many variables, she was quick to point out, dictated most notable by age gab and the gender of the children. "A girl with a sister two years her senior will be closer to the model of the second child than a girl with a brother ten years order, who might well display more of the characteristics of a first or only child" (Udall). Frank J. Sulloway, researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has studied the differences in sets of siblings throughout history. He recorded his findings in the book, "Born to Rebel: Birth Order, Family Dynamics and Creative Lives." In almost every case Sulloway found that siblings seemed to seek different roles in the family. If the first child was feisty and active, and the second child would be significannot ly more likely to be quiet and
Some parents often wonder, what, if any, effect birth order will have on their children's personalities. Genetic factors and other influences play a significannot role, but the birth order within the family plays a larger role in determining the personality of children. Countless academic studies say your place in the family is such a strong factor in developing your personality that it can have a major influence on the rest of your life. Alfred Adler, an Austrian psychiatrist and former disciple of Freud, acknowledge environmental influences such as social class, geographic origin and relationship with parents as factors in the development of personality. But it was birth order and relationship with siblings that was the single most reliable predictor of human nature (Udall). Joy Berthoud, author of "Pecking Order," had read and been convinced by this and researched and confirmed it. "I am a journalist and wanted to stand it up myself," she says. Hundreds of interviews later, she had her proof. "Without exception, everyone I spoke to displayed the characteristics of their position in the family pecking order." There are many variables, she was quick to point out, dictated most notable by age gab and the gender of the children. "A girl with a sister two years her senior will be closer to the model of the second child than a girl with a brother ten years order, who might well display more of the characteristics of a first or only child" (Udall). Frank J. Sulloway, researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has studied the differences in sets of siblings throughout history. He recorded his findings in the book, "Born to Rebel: Birth Order, Family Dynamics and Creative Lives." In almost every case Sulloway found that siblings seemed to seek different roles in the family. If the first child was feisty and active, and the second child would be significannot ly more likely to be quiet and