Birth order refers to the chronological order of birth of siblings in a family. It focuses on five ordinal positions; first born, second born, middle born, last born (youngest) and the only child. Birth order is often thought to have an intense and long lasting effect on psychological development of a child. This claim has been continuously questioned by researchers, but still birth order extends to have a compelling presence in psychology.
Alfred Adler studied birth order and stated that the child’s position in order of birth determines his personality and growth. Being born first or last itself is not of much importance but what matters is how the ‘order’ affects child treatment by parents and other siblings. Spacing between birth, gender
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Their future personality traits depend on the type of parenting they have gone through. For example, if the child was spoiled, then he will probably grow up to become a person who is highly dependent on others. If the parents are over-protective about their child, then the child might suffer from a lack of self-confidence. If they are pampered too much, they may develop inferiority complex. Child is able to find out that he is surrounded by a lot of people that are more capable than him and can do many of the things he is unable of. They also feel that they aren’t taken as seriously as …show more content…
They also suffer while making decisions or taking up responsibility later in life because in childhood, all their decisions are carried out by their elders or parents. Some lastborns engage in sibling rivalry because of the injustices they think that they have experienced being the youngest. Some parents even tend to be unconcerned about the youngest one and may not be much enthusiastic about his accomplishments. As he has fewer expectations placed on him, they also tend to achieve less.
Being the youngest one in my family, I consider myself to be at an advantageous position