The place of the individual within the family, the first social group encountered, has been suggested to be a contributing factor in shaping human personalities and influencing behavior and socialization. Researchers have defined birth order terms that continue to be used extensively in the literature. Birth order or ordinal position is the position a family member holds within the family such as: an only child, first-born, second born, third born, and fourth born. Birth order traits are the characteristics that are learned from childhood according to the child’s position in the family, sex, number of siblings, and sex of siblings.
A birth order theory states that the child has a specific position in the family and thus displays certain traits that are associated with their ordinal position. One of the first modem psychologists to focus on the influence of birth order on personality development across the lifespan was Alfred Adler in the 1920’s. Since his account of the effects of birth order on personality, many theories have been suggested to explain the apparent differences. An example is Sulloway’s theory of personality development based on birth order.
This paper examines and explain both Alfred Adler’s theory and Frank Sulloway’s theory of personality development based on birth order. The paper argues that these theories have provided foundation for many birth order studies in the academic literature. The current literature will be discussed as it pertains to the relationship between birth order and specific personality variables to verify this argument. Birth Order Theories Adler ‘s theory Alfred Adler is a theorist and researcher that looked at the variable of birth order.
He believed that there were observable differences in an individual’s personality based on their ordinal position in the sibling unit. As he states “The position of each child in the family still makes a great difference and each child will grow up in quite a new situation. We must insist that the situation is never the same for two children in a family; and each child will show in his style of life the results of his attempts to adapt himself to his own peculiar circumstances” (Adler, 1958, p. 144). Adler believed that the family context, or family environment, was a key element influencing a child’s development.
Depending upon a given child’s birth order he or she is subject to a specific type of dynamics that affects their character development. Adler formulated particular profiles for each birth order position. The firstborn or oldest birth order position is unique in that, for a time, the child has the parents all to him or herself. The attention and resources are focused solely on that child giving him or her opportunity to interact with the caregivers in that environment without competition until siblings are born.
The transition from being an only child to an oldest child is of paramount importance to the child’s experience and subsequent development. Adler suggests that the personality of the firstborn individual is shaped by his or her experience of having a sibling enter the family. This event forever changes the dynamics of the family and the firstborn must adjust to the sense of deprivation that comes with losing the position of the only child. In Adler’s view oldest children imitate their fathers or mothers. They may act in a parental fashion towards their siblings, feeling responsible for their welfare.
Adler also states that the oldest child often becomes very organized (Adler, 1956). Parents’ expectations for the oldest child are often very high. The firstborn profile describes the oldest child as fairly rigid in his or her thought process with a tendency towards order and traditionalism. The oldest child “likes to take part in the exercise of authority and he exaggerates the importance of rules and laws. Everything should be done by rule and no rule should ever be changed… We can understand that influences like these in childhood give a strong tendency toward conservatism.
” (Adler, 1958, p. 146). In sum the typical oldest child takes the role of the conscientious caregiver and often follows the lead of the parents. The second child, or a child in the middle of the sibling group, has a different profile. The first child is seen as a pacemaker for the second child. According to Adler the second child “behaves as if he were in a race, as if someone were a step or two in front of him and he had to hurry to get ahead of him. ” (Adler, 1956, p. 98). This child was born into a family environment where parental resources have to be shared.
Often he or she will work diligently to excel in order to gain favor or to prove him or herself. The second child’s older sibling has already created a position in the family, so the second child has the task of establishing his or her own position in a new way. While there is motivation to achieve, the outcome of that achievement may be in a different domain than that of the firstborn child who will likely choose traditional or conventional arenas to pursue. The youngest child, according to Adler’s model, is the spoiled child and the pampered child.
The youngest child cannot be dethroned and therefore has a special place in the sibling group. This child is always the baby of the family. Usually the youngest develops in one of two ways. He or she can be extremely ambitious striving to catch up with the older siblings. “He faces the difficulties of a pampered child; but because he is so much stimulated, because he has so many chances for competition, it often happens that the youngest child develops in an extraordinary way, runs faster than the other children and overcomes them all” (Adler 1956, p. 102).