Psychologists believe that there are many things that influence people’s personalities. Everything from physical and social environment to genetics play a role in shaping one’s defining characteristics, yet many people find one thing in particular to be a common trend in people’s personalities: their birth order.
While oldest siblings are often thought of as being more responsible and goal oriented, youngest children being spoiled and aloof and middle children being generally dismissed, birth order seems to have a large impact on the personalities of individuals across backgrounds.
There haven’t been very many scientific studies on the impact of birth order, but many behavioral specialists believe that the pattern arises due to the expectations and treatment from parents.
Marriage and family counselor Sarah Smelser believes that new parents tend to follow a pattern of behavior, and that trend is what influences birth order personalities. “New parents bring home their firstborn from the hospital and have a desire to do everything just right…the parents’ level of anxiety and internal expectations of themselves is communicated and reinforced through repeated behaviors and interactions with the child over time,” she said.
Smelser went on to explain that this pattern continues in middle children, as parents tend to become more lax with a second child.
Senior Keira Bowman feels that being an oldest child played a role in her decisions and personality by increasing the pressure she feels to succeed. “I feel that as the oldest child, a lot of pressure is placed on me that isn’t placed on my brothers. I had so many more rules and responsibilities at their age than they have now, because I’m the first child,” Bowman said.
Bowman also explained that being a first born child also means the parents haven’t had the chance to raise children before, which makes the oldest sibling a trial-and-error of parenting.
“I am the guinea pig for everything. My parents test things out on me and then when they don’t work, they don’t do those things to my brothers,” she said. “My parents expect more of me than of my other siblings because they don’t know yet what they should expect from their children.”
But birth order doesn’t always create uniform personalities. Senior Heidi Cannon, the youngest child in her family, has found that the birth order of her and her siblings had very little impact on their overall personalities as they grew up.
“Birth order has never really had an impact on my parents’ expectations of me. Personality wise, it’s never really had a significant impact or influence on me,” Cannon shared.
While birth order can be a fun way to connect with others and find patterns, it is not a hard and fast rule. While it certainly isn’t the most influential factor, birth order can be one of the many influences on a person’s overall personality.
