Birth order

"Younger brother" redirects here. For other uses, see Younger brother (disambiguation).
"Middle child" redirects here. For the J. Cole song, see Middle Child. For the belief that middle children develop specific characteristics, see Middle child syndrome.

Birth order refers to the order a child is born in their family; first-born and second-born are examples. Birth order is often believed to have a profound and lasting effect on psychological development. This assertion has been repeatedly challenged.[1] Recent research has consistently found that earlier born children score slightly higher on average on measures of intelligence, but has found zero, or almost zero, robust effect of birth order on personality.[2] Nevertheless, the notion that birth-order significantly influences personality continues to have a strong presence in pop psychology and popular culture.[3][4]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Rowe2000 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Rohrer, Julia M.; Egloff, Boris; Schmukle, Stefan C. (2015-11-17). "Examining the effects of birth order on personality". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112 (46): 14224–14229. Bibcode:2015PNAS..11214224R. doi:10.1073/pnas.1506451112. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 4655522. PMID 26483461.
  3. ^ Isaacson, Clifford E (2002). The Birth Order Effect: How to Better Understand Yourself and Others. Adams Media Corporation. p. 141. ISBN 978-1580625517. fourthborn.
  4. ^ Bradshaw, John (1996). The Family: A New Way of Creating Solid Self-esteem. Health Communications. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-1558744271. fourth children.