Will You Get Divorced If You're an Only Child?

Researchers have often thought that personality development is influenced by a child’s birth order.  Research has supported these hypotheses, and the influence of birth order is so strong that the lifestyle of two youngest children in two different families is more similar than that of a middle and youngest child in the same family (Romeo 1994).  

Birth order often defines one’s role in the family.  Dr. Kevin Leman, author of “The New Birth Order Book: Why you are the way you are,” believes birth order is the science of understanding your place in the family line and affects one’s life in countless ways (1998).

According to Michalski and Shackelford (2002), the oldest children hold positions of parental favor and dominance in relation to younger children and the younger children show different characteristics to secure parental investment.  First-born children are often thought of as perfectionists, scholarly, high achievers, leaders and reliable.  A lot of oldest children have the undivided attention of the parents before other siblings are born.  These kids most often interact with adults for the first part of their lives.  First borns are often given responsibilities for younger siblings from the parents as they age, which boosts characteristics of leadership and dominance (Romeo 1994).  In research, Pines finds that first borns score higher on self-esteem tests when compared with other children (cited in Romeo, 1994).

Middle children are often “different” to stick out in the family since they are neither the oldest and leading the way, or the last, the baby of the family who seems to get a lot of attention.  Middle kids are usually described as being a compromiser, diplomatic, loyal to their peers, and having many friends.  Middle children develop humor that amuses older generations as well as younger kids and often can become exhibitionistic to gain attention (Romeo, 1994).