Birth Order

For my Human Growth and Development class I have chosen to do my final research project on the significance that a child's birth order in a family may play in the role of shaping his/her academic success/IQ, and personality/behavior. What I have found thus far, I have found to be very interesting. I won't share all of the info I have collected and the specific characteristics which professionals have found for each scenario (i.e. the older brother of one sister, and the older sister of three brothers) because there are too many, but I thought some of the general info might be interesting and ties into some things we have talked about in EDEE-510 as well as other courses.

We have learned that parents play a huge role in shaping a child on a multidimensional level, in areas like developmental learning, social skills, and physical development. Before starting my research, I didn't realize the major impact siblings play in shaping each other and who they become. Studies on birth order have been done in correspondence to many fields, such as medicine, sociology, psychology, education, anthropology, history, economics, and biology. This subject of interest has also been around for quite a long time. Some things that I think are important from this research to realize are that research has not proven that birth order, effects a child's IQ, however, it has shown that birth order is a significant factor in determining the achievement of a child. What researchers have discovered is that the first born tend to be more successful academically, get higher grades in school, and on average are more successful in their careers later in life, which has been determined based on their annual salaries and net worth. At the same time they have proven that siblings from the same family generally have similar, if not the same IQ's as one another. The reason then for the higher achievement of the first-borns? Research has suggested there to be a number of causes that may lend themselves to possible explanations: first-borns are put under more pressure by parents to succeed; first-borns are more driven and accept the same values as their parents as they spent the most time with their parents early on, and also the most attention; first-borns are both more often conservative and conformists when compared to later born; first-borns feel the need to prove themselves and "regain" the focus and affection of their parents that the later born has taken away from them; firstborns tend to be more motivated and are used to the role of leadership and as a responsible role model for the later born; and finally the first born has on average a slightly more developed vocabulary due the fact they spent more one on one time with their parents at an early age, and were exposed to only their parents speech shaping, whereas the later born, had to share time with parents and were also exposed to the firstborn's vocabulary patterns part of the time.

On the other hand, one way the later born have proven to benefit from their birth order, is both socially and athletically. The later born have spent more time around a larger peer group, such as siblings (especially if from a large family). They are more empathetic and socially concerned with the world around them. They tend to be more creative as well, and more connected emotionally. You may think that an older child is more emotionally "connected" because they are much more verbal and temperamental (on avg.), but the younger child is more interested in learning to communicate, interact, and work with others. This may be one reason they tend to succeed more athletically, which is to say they are better equipped to be a team player and enjoy sports more. Also research has suggested that because they tend to not be able to compete with the first born or older siblings verbally and intellectually (especially early on because the gaps between developmental stages are much bigger) and so they try and "out-do" their older sibling physically.

Family size, age spacing, and gender of the child in relation to the gender(s) of the other sibling(s) also play an important role in the equation. One thing that research has long proven is that the larger the family, and therefore, as one more child is added and then another, that as "we" move down the "pecking order" the child exhibits the common characteristics of a young(est/er) child, and as "we" move up the "pecking order" the oldest child tends hold more of the traits of the firstborn. In regards to the spacing within siblings, meaning the age gaps between the birth of one child to the next, the smaller the gap, the more intense the competition and rivalry is, especially for the parents' affection.

I would have never thought to consider this as an important factor as a teacher, but I now know that for certain kids' and families’ birth order does play an important role in a child's development, and how they see themselves in relations to others. It effects their motivation, self esteem, learning style, behavior, and personality. All of these characteristics of a child take on significance in a classroom, and are a huge part of the child's identity. I therefore believe it is important for the teacher to understand the home life of each child, beyond just the parents, in order to understand the student better, and help them to achieve, capitalizing on their strengths and weaknesses, to the best of their ability. It may also help solve classroom problems between children or understand why certain situations may arise. Common strengths and weaknesses as result of birth order are also discussed in much of my research, going into more depth, order and gender scenarios, and other circumstances. What I have learned, may not always be true, but it has fit what I know to be true from my own life experience and the family dynamics of others who are close to me. It has been VERY accurate and therefore the reasearch may be a possible tool for teachers and parents alike.