Your personality according to your ranking among your brothers

Arrangement of children in the family

For years the scientific community has been interested in the relationship between personality traits and birth order among siblings, so could siblings' birth order determine their personality?

In the early studies, there was a lot of research looking at the relationship between birth order and certain physical traits, including susceptibility to certain diseases. The results of these early studies were mostly inconclusive.

In about 1930 interest in the study of the physical characteristics of the field superseded interest in the degree of adaptation, and produced equally confusing results, and in 1983 Ernst and Angst conducted a review of some 1,500 articles on birth order and personality characteristics.

From this it is concluded that reports of birth order effects have been greatly exaggerated so far, there is clearly evidence of some physical differences before and immediately after birth and these are:

• A first-born (first-born) tends to have a lower birth weight. The first-born is more likely to die in the womb after 20 weeks.
• They are also at increased risk of intracranial and spinal birth injuries.
• They are also at increased risk of death at birth and soon after birth.

Some differences in socialization also occur in relation to newborns:

• Parents become more demanding with the first child and more attentive in infancy, but this interest wanes with the second child.
• First children are described as having greater opportunities to relate to their parents, and in young families the firstborn child is said to be more willing to accept their parents' authority.

There are also very modest differences in educational and occupational attainment:

The eldest child in small families and younger children generally achieve a higher education and professional place than middle children.

However, Ernst and Angst argue that when appropriate controls are applied, birth order is not related to IQ, school performance, or mental illness, nor is it related to anxiety and dependence on these characteristics. This is how the authors Ernst and Angst (1983) questioned the relationship between order Birth and personality traits.

And a little later in 1996 author Frank J. Sulawi's book Born to Rebel, in which the author suggests that the effects of birth order stem from competition between siblings as they fight for shared family status.

Sibling competition

According to author Sulloway, the eldest child has first choice, so they will try to please their parents in the traditional way through success in school and responsible behaviour, but with the arrival of other siblings the firstborn has to deal with new events.

Which he may see as a threat to him in his position among his family, as he is looking for the continuity of his natural priority that he is used to on the part of his family, and priority means that he is at the top of the hierarchy to put siblings.

The personality of the first child will be a conscious and conservative one. Those children born later must resist the status of the superior first-born child, so they unconsciously seek alternative ways of distinguishing themselves in the eyes of their parents.

They thus develop a mature adult who has an empathetic interpersonal style, fights for individuality and distinction, and has fair and anti-authoritarian political views.

Researchers such as Paulhus, Trapnell, and Chen in 1999 looked at the effects of birth order. Their study produced clear results:

• Virgos tend to be the most successful and conscientious, and they also score higher on extraversion and lower on agreeableness and openness.
• But those children who are born later than the first child tend to be more rebellious against parental guidance and more liberal.

Characteristics of the three siblings

A little later, in 2003, Saroglou and Fiasse conducted another research in this field. In their study, the researchers studied 122 young adults from families with three siblings.

The conclusion reached through research and observation of the behavior and reactions of young people was very common, after which they collected and refined the data and obtained clear results related to the arrangement of siblings and personality.

Characteristics of the first child

The older brother now considers himself in a race so that no one can take his place with his parents,” so he tries to be an exemplary obedient child who succeeds in school and is peaceful.

Characteristics of the middle son

It seems that the middle two brothers represent the “rebellious” brother since birth compared to their siblings. They were less conscientious, less religious, their school performance was lower, and they were also found to be more impulsive and open to imagination.

Since the older brother bets on racing to gain status, the middle child does everything in his power to outpace his older brother or sister. It is said that the middle child is often known in his family for ambition.

However, some say that he is rarely a selfish person, but the psychological motivation for this ambition is not positive, but rather he often finds himself more vulnerable to failures that make him aspire more and do everything in his power to avoid failure.

last child (last child)

Younger siblings were the most fun and warm, firstborn children would consider themselves more conscientious and higher performers, and as a general rule the last youngest child gets a lot of attention and care in many families by all members of the family.

That is why he may feel that he has little experience as well as less ability to be independent. On the other hand, the personality of the last child in families tends to be a socially intelligent type that people feel comfortable with.

Despite this, the pampering he received may affect his youth to become a personality that tends to irrational behavior, and his degree of responsibility is lower compared to his older sisters, but in other families he will be the last child born who views him as more humble and liberal as well as more rebellious.

However, it appears that the order in which siblings are delivered may have something to do with their personality as all studies on this topic conclude that more research is needed in this area.

And future research must take into account all the variables that cannot be controlled in the research, so that clearer results can be obtained on this topic.

Does your ranking among your brothers really carry this importance?

We must point out that the results of the studies have many errors, because they did not take into account all the considerations that change the results, such as social and environmental factors, such as racial differences, different levels of education, and the type of relationships within the family.

Among these factors is the difference in the order of birth, as well as among the factors the genetic factor and the bonds that the child feels between the mother and the father, and the quality of education that the child receives from the home, school and surroundings, all of which matters of much greater importance than just their presence in the order of the sisters with regard to directing his life and drawing the features of his personality.