Birth order is defined as your rank in your sibling constellation: first born, middle born, last born, only child, or twin.
This birth order information explains how personality traits and lives are affected by being the first born, middle born, or last born child.
Whether you're the oldest, youngest, or somewhere in the middle - your birth order or family placement can affect your life, personality traits, professional achievements, and personal relationships.
Frankenstein
Written by: Mary Shelley
Birth Order vs. Personality
First Born
← Simply by virtue of being a couple's first child, a firstborn will naturally be a sort of experiment for the new parents, a mixture of instinct and trial-and-error. …show more content…
← Perhaps this will cause the parents to become by-the-book caregivers who are extremely attentive, stringent with rules, and overly neurotic about the minutiae.
← This in turn may cause the child to become a perfectionist, always striving to please his parents.
Second Born
← In contrast, if the couple decides to have a second child, they might raise their second-born with less of an iron first due to their experiences raising their firstborn.
← They might also be less attentive to the second-born since there's another child competing for attention, and they probably will be less inclined to impulsively dial 911 every time the child breaks a sweat.
← This may cause the second-born to be less of a perfectionist but more of a people-pleaser due to the lack of attention he gets in comparison to his older sibling.
Middle Born
← The middle child often feels left out and a sense of, “Well, I'm not the oldest. I'm not the youngest. Who am I?”
← This sort of hierarchical floundering leads middle children to make their mark among their peers, since parental attention is usually devoted to the beloved firstborn or baby of the family.
← This may cause the middle born child to be somewhat rebellious because they feel they have to be to get some attention in their
family.
Last Born
← Youngest children tend to be the most free-spirited due to their parents' increasingly laissez-faire attitude towards parenting the second (or third, or fourth, or fifth...) time around.
← Being the youngest in the clan he gets all possible help from a large number of people living at home or at studies etc. In addition to help that is forthcoming often there are a number of people to meet with his demands and he gets a lot of love and affection from siblings.
← This may cause the last born to be self centered because of all the attention he gets.
Only Child
← Being the only child is a unique position in a family. Without any siblings to compete with, the only child monopolizes his parents' attention and resources, not just for a short period of time like a firstborn, but forever.
← In effect, this makes an only child something like a "super-firstborn": only children have the privilege (and the burden) of having all their parents' support and expectations on their shoulders.
← This may cause the only child to be diligent and confident in themselves because of all of the adult attention.
Multiples
(Twins, Triplets, etc.)
← One of the first questions that people want to know about twins is, "Who is older?" Or, they try to guess which one is older based on how the twins behave.
← The impact of birth order in multiples is more often one of perception rather than reality
← The Birth Order personalities of twins are often more intense than in normal Birth Order; because they are the same age and capability, the dominant one has to work harder at being dominant thus reinforcing the Birth Order personalities of both and the second is a subdued follower.