I was a bit bored last week and decided to go online and read random news articles that might not be shown on TV. The first I came across was "Does birth order matter?" on CNN.com. Being the youngest of three, immediately my instinct was to read on.
This article stated that Norwegian scientists discovered this summer that the order in which children are born in has an affect on their IQ and their overall achievement in life. Although there are many marginal errors in their analysis, they say that there are many reasons for why this is true.
The first child comes into a world were the parents are inexperienced, so they have their undivided attention. Later when sibling come into the mix, they have to be the responsible ones and show their younger siblings that they are role models. The scientists also believed that older children can relate more to adults since they spent more time alone with their parents.
The middle children are the laid-back relaxed ones that can sometimes seem to be "unnoticed". It is said that because they are left in the middle, they often tend to be rebellious and very competitive.
And then there's the last one. Coming into this world with more than experienced parents but can often receive less of their attention. In trying to win as much attention as possible, it is said that the youngest children can be perceived as the "spoiled" ones.
Although I found this article more that interesting, I must say that it really did not apply to my family. I do agree to some extent that my older sister tends to be the most responsible one, and my brother, the "middle" child, is the most care-free, but I don't think that our IQ or achievement levels are different. All three of us have been more than highly competitive in school, and for my older siblings work, and all of us have very high standards and goals for ourselves. I did find this article informative, but I think that it maybe wrong to make false assumptions about siblings, even when given scientific proof. Maybe my family does not exactly fill the cookie cutter mold.
Does your family?
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1 comment:
I read the article and I thought it was based on too small a survey to be accurate. It was just about boys, wasn't it? However, in many families I know of with two boys, the older one does tend to be the more mature and responsible, even later in life.
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