Birth Order Effects on Personality, Esteem, and Relationships
This paper examines how a child's numerical position within the family — first born, middle born, or last born — influences social, mental, and biological development. Drawing on studies by Kidwell (1981, 1982), Schilling (2001), Sulloway (2001), and Rohrer et al. (2015), the paper explores how birth order shapes adolescent self-esteem, parental perception, sibling competition, and the success of romantic relationships. It also addresses contradictory findings, particularly Rohrer et al.'s large-scale, multinational study suggesting birth order affects intelligence but not personality, and considers how methodology shapes the conclusions researchers draw.
- Introduction to Birth Order: Defines birth order and three sibling positions
- Birth Order and Interpersonal Relationships: Schilling's findings on birth order and relationships
- Sibling Structure, Gender, and Parental Perception: Kidwell 1981 on gender, spacing, and parental views
- Middle Children and Self-Esteem: Kidwell 1982 on middleborn self-esteem deficits
- The Biology of Sibling Competition: Sulloway's evolutionary basis for sibling rivalry
- Contradictory Evidence and Methodological Considerations: Rohrer et al. challenge personality effects; methodology matters
✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
What makes this paper effective
- The paper synthesizes multiple empirical studies coherently, comparing methodologies and sample sizes to evaluate the weight of each study's conclusions.
- It engages with contradictory evidence honestly — particularly Rohrer et al. (2015) — rather than dismissing findings that complicate its thesis.
- It maintains a clear organizational structure, addressing social, psychological, and biological dimensions of birth order in sequence before drawing a comparative conclusion.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper models critical literature synthesis: it does not simply summarize each study but evaluates their relative strengths, noting sample size limitations in Schilling (2001) and Kidwell (1981, 1982) versus the large multinational dataset in Rohrer et al. (2015). The closing discussion on methodology as a lens for interpreting conflicting results demonstrates mature academic reasoning.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a definition of birth order and an overview of the three birth positions. It then moves study by study through the literature — relationships (Schilling), adolescent perception (Kidwell 1981), self-esteem (Kidwell 1982), sibling competition biology (Sulloway) — before presenting the contradictory large-scale findings of Rohrer et al. A synthesis section weighs all studies against one another and closes with a reflection on the role of methodology in evaluating research conclusions.
Introduction to Birth Order
Much research has been written on how birth order affects family relationships. In terms of self-esteem, perception of the family dynamic, and one's ability to enter successfully into romantic relationships, birth order has been found to play a significant role (Kidwell, 1981; Kidwell, 1982; Schilling, 2001). The purpose of this paper is to examine social, mental, and biological factors of birth order while also examining an individual's position in the family and how it may affect behavior and personality.
Birth order refers to the numerical position of a person born within a family (Schilling, 2001). The discussion that follows focuses primarily on three groups: first born, middle born, and last born. These three groups comprise three distinct experiences of place within the family context. The eldest born is the first child, with no older siblings from whom to draw an example — he sets the example for his younger siblings. His attitudes and experiences differ from those of the middle born, who sees in the eldest an example and can respond to it, play off it, and reflect on it. The last born occupies a different position altogether. He is viewed differently — and perhaps more sentimentally — by parents than the other two, partly because he is the last child and no more children follow. This is why the last born is often referred to as the "baby of the family." He typically receives more doting affection than the other two, while the oldest is usually given a greater degree of responsibility by virtue of being first into the world. The middle born tends to be the forgotten child, feeling neither as confident as the oldest nor as cherished as the youngest (Kidwell, 1982). Gender, too, plays a role in the development of these children's perspectives (Kidwell, 1981). Thus, birth order is not alone in shaping a child's social, mental, and biological development — but it is an important factor.
Create your account
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.