A study from Ohio State University in 2006 found older children aren’t necessarily smarter than their younger siblings, as other research has suggested; rather, the majority of that research looked at large and small families, instead of siblings within the same family.
When the OSU team controlled for family size, they determined intelligence levels correlated to how old mothers were when they had their first child.
“In reality, if you look at these larger families, the fourth-born child is just as intelligent as the first-born,” said lead author Aaron Wichman at the time. “But they all don't do as well as children from a smaller family.”
Another factor psychologists have come to observe is a phenomenon called the “Sibling Niche Theory.” In every family, the theory states, children look for their respective roles.
Older children typically fall into a leadership role, middle children find a mediating role, and younger children settle into an introspective — and sometimes rebellious — role. At the same time, they compete for limited resources.
“They’ve got to differentiate themselves in some way to get the attention that they need,” said Dr. Corinna Jenkins-Tucker, professor of family relations at the University of New Hampshire. Sometimes those roles are fads kids grow out of, but other times they stick around for life.
Personality Differences
Each family operates with different constraints, but psychologists have found several sweeping differences between kids born first and those thereafter.The eldest kids, for instance, are more likely to succeed in school because they learn a firmer sense of grit and determination from parents who play tough. Part of that upbringing nudges them toward the role of a leader.
First-borns may face more freedom when it comes to their diets, but less so when their grades are on the line.
Kids born later in the food chain, with older siblings having already gobbled up other niches, turn to whichever spots they can get their hands on.
“The baby of the family can be a little more irresponsible,” Jenkins-Tucker said. “Sometimes it’s conscious, sometimes it’s not.” A girl might see her older sister as the jock of the family, so she turns to science. Or it may simply be that soccer strikes her, at some deeper level, as “her sister’s thing,” so she finds her uniqueness elsewhere.
Where first-borns are the dominant forces in the house, occupying a role somewhere between parent and peer to their other siblings, and the baby of the family is avoiding an existential crisis, the middle child also merits attention.
Almost in sync with their place in the family tree, middle children tend to be more even-keeled than their siblings at either pole.
They mediate, Jenkins-Tucker says. Some research also finds them to be more faithful in relationships, prompting some relationship experts to suggest marrying a middle child a way to avoid divorce. CONTINUE READING
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