Literature Review On Birth Order

Literary Review

Definition and History

Birth order contributes to why the children in the same family develop different personality traits and relationship statuses (Badger and Reddy 46). More broadly, birth order affects children mainly in two ways; “de-identification” or “social learning”. De-identification, discovered by the scientist Alfred Adler, is a process in which the child, usually later borns, exerts themselves to become different from other children, usually to gain parental attention. Inversely, social learning occurs when younger siblings imitate or model older siblings. In this case, the younger sibling will acknowledge the older sibling’s success and healthy parent- child relationship and duplicate his/her behavior expecting

Social learning creates what could be described as a mime effet (Eckstein and Kaufman 62). Although, many factors contribute to personality and relationship status, birth order is known to be the most prominent (Lam et al. 2090). For centuries, scientists and personality theorists, such as Galton, Rogers, and Rowe, have extensively studied the premise around birth order answering the rhetoric question, why does birth order immensely intrigue to the common man? Galton, Rogers, and Rowe answered the question by stating, “Everyone has birth order, and it is easy to observe and talk about… characteristics, quality of schooling, quality of parental support are more subtle, less obvious, and more difficult to discuss” (Eckstein and Kaufman 61). Furthermore, personality theorists agree that childhood experience does influence adult life (Eckstein and Kaufman 62). Separately, Galton created a study to observe the effects of birth order hoping to find the key to perfecting the human

The transition from adolescence to young adult causes many youths to face increase pressure to conform to stereotypical roles (Lam 2090). In general, many studies have shown that first borns develop responsible and protect personas, and are known to be socially dominant, thus less agreeable (Badger and Reddy 46). Furthermore, first borns are known to have traits of perfectionists, leaders, and hard workers. First born siblings also have the highest rate of excelling academically, becoming smarter, and stronger compared to younger siblings (Combs-Draughn 16; Eckstein and Kaufman 66-72; Hartshorne 19). First borns, although known to be leaders, often have lower self-esteem due to increased parental pressure (Eckstein and Kaufman 69). The connectedness hypothesis states that many adolescent will continuously rely on their parents for support throughout their lives; thus, when additional children join a family, first born(s) may feel threatened (Lam 2100). If this situation is not treated carefully the first born may develop traits such as neurotic and criminal (Badger and Reddy 46). Nextly, middle children are known to shine athletically, and may find themselves acting as the peacemaker in their family dynamics. (Combs-Braughn 17; Eckstein and Kaufman 72) Furthermore, many second born children have the ability to feel more comfortable among peer groups, and leaving