Second-born children exhibit higher rates of behavioral issues than first-borns
the verdict
CONTESTED
contested - evenly split
refutedsupported
the weight of evidence
1 source for · 2 against
Peer-reviewed literature presents mixed evidence regarding birth order and behavior, with one study noting differences in sibling behaviors and other research finding little evidence that birth order explains delinquency or language skill disparities.
Given the large numbers of families with more than one child, understanding similarities and differences in siblings' behaviors and in parents' interactions with their sibling infants is an important goal for advancing more representative developmental science. This study employed a within-family design to examine mean-level consistency and individual-order agreement in 5-month-old sibling behaviors and maternal parenting practices with their firstborns and secondborns (ns = 61 mothers and 122 infants). Each infant was seen independently with mother. Firstborn infants were more social with their mothers and engaged in more exploration with objects than secondborn infants; firstborn and secondborn infants' behaviors were correlated for smiling, distress communication, and efficiency of exploration. Mothers engaged in more physical encouragement, social exchange, didactic interaction, material provisioning, and language with their firstborns than with their secondborns. Notably, only maternal nurturing (e.g., feeding, holding) did not differ in mean level when mothers were with their two infants. However, mean differences in mothers' social exchange and material provisioning with their two children attenuated to nonsignificance when controlling for differences in siblings' behaviors. Individual-order agreement of mothers' behaviors with firstborn and secondborn infants (across an average of almost 3 years) was only moderate. These findings suggest that mother-firstborn interactions may differ from mother-secondborn interactions. Future research should move beyond studying mother-firstborn dyads to understand broader family and developmental processes.
Juvenile delinquency has long been associated with birth order in popular culture. While images of the middle child acting out for attention or the rebellious youngest child readily spring to mind, little research has attempted to explain why. Drawing from Adlerian birth order theory and Sulloway’s born-to-rebel hypothesis, I examine the relationship between birth order and a variety of delinquent outcomes during adolescence. Following some recent research on birth order and intelligence, I use new methods that allow for the examination of between-individual and within-family differences to better address the potential spurious relationship. My findings suggest that contrary to popular belief, the relationship between birth order and delinquency is spurious. Specifically, I find that birth order effects on delinquency are spurious and largely products of the analytic methods used in previous tests of the relationship. The implications of this finding are discussed.
Possible differences in the development of language form, content, or use skills have been suggested in research with respect to birth order and sex. However, no studies have been completed which control the chronological age of the subjects in order to determine whether significant differences do exist, e.g. when children enter school. If such differences do exist, prevention strategies could be identified and implemented. This study included twenty first- and sixteen second-born children, ranging in age from five years two months to six years six months, beginning kindergarten. Participants were individually given the Test of Language Development- Primary, and the Test of Pragmatics Skill. Raw score measures obtained from the testing were subjected to analyses of variance. No significant differences among the groups were found in language form and content. Some tendencies were found to exist in use of language with respect to both birth order and sex. A significant difference was found in one aspect of language use. Second-born children were more likely to acknowledge greetings appropriately than first-born children. The implications of these findings are discussed.
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