Personality Traits Linked To Birth Order Summary

The title of the Article is “Personality Traits Linked To Birth Order” and was written by Rome Neal. The article begins by outlining the difference between the birth orders and the traits each individual poses as an effects of their order. Older brother or baby sister, are is more than simply just a labels on the family tree. Psychologists Kevin Leman says that birth order affects all aspects of a child's personality. (Neal, 2002).

The article then begins to go into detailed about the individuals personality traits they possess as a result of their birth order. Firstly the oldest child is to be described as a natural born leader. Looking back through history many newscasters and TV talk show hosts have been firstborn or only children. This

The first born children act with a different level of efficiency then the middle and last born children. First borns overall are seen to be responsible, assertive, task-oriented, perfectionistic, and like approval of authority figures. First borns are driven by the responsibility they must show toward their younger siblings with gives them more experience leading and mentoring others. Firstborns are often raised to take on leadership positions as adults. Also, studies have linked firstborn children to obtaining higher academic achievements and higher intelligence scores when compared to later-born children in the family. First borns can be identified by the birth order and by gender. The firstborn of either gender, no matter where in they fall in the sibling order, will often be treated as a firstborn. For example, if there is only one daughter in a family of all boys, the daughter will often be treated as a first born no matter where in the birth order she falls. In addition if a child displays serious medical problem or physical/mental disability, that child be rises to the firstborn status because of the demand for attention needed by the parents/ guardians of the family. (Franz,

Second borns are the complete opposite to the first borns and often develop feelings of envy toward them. These feeling develop because the older sibling is more advances in their abilities and is seen as a big successor in terms of academics and achievements. Often times these ideas of the firstborn drive a competitive nature between the two. The middle child then begins to focus their energies in areas different from those in which their older sibling is already established. This competition with firstborns drives secondborns and middleborns to innovation, being or doing different from their older siblings in order to make themselves stand out within the family dynamic. In truth, these children are often more skillful at a younger age as they follow their older siblings and their examples. However, middle children can often feel forgotten or overlooked because of the attention need by either the firstborns or the lastborns. Also, they never truly seem to find their place in the social order, and they try to misbehave in order to draw attention to themselves. But middleborns are very socially skilled because they have learned how to compromise with their siblings and their parents. These children are often called the peacemakers of the household. Many middle children go on to become trial lawyers or social activists because such roles allow them to fight against others and social injustices. This allows them to bring