There is a known concept referred to as the “birth order theory” that suggests the order in which children and their siblings are born influences their personality, relationships, and the way they react to the world.
Some of the stereotypes are that the oldest child is the most responsible, the middle child is overlooked, and the youngest child is the favorite.
According to Cleveland Clinic, an American nonprofit academic medical center, birth order theory isn’t a new concept. In the ‘90s psychotherapist Alfred Adler aligned certain traits with certain people based on their sibling lineup.
Although it is a topic of frequent discussion amongst many to explain certain behaviors, these assumptions aren’t a real diagnosis so there is no basis to it. The recognition of these particular characteristics in people are referred to as oldest child syndrome, middle child syndrome, and youngest child syndrome.
The traditional traits found amongst the eldest children are: responsibility, ambition, cooperation and parental instincts. Often, this is due to the fact that parents are likely to solely focus on their first-born child, allowing them to develop life-skills quicker than their younger siblings. The lack of attention from parents to their younger children requires the eldest child to fill the void and take up the responsibility of being a parent. They are then the ones to teach and guide their younger siblings through life.
Senior Melanie Herrera feels that the eldest child theory characteristics apply to her despite having older brothers and a twin sister. She is the older twin, therefore, there is a sense of responsibility that she feels and acts on.
“I feel like a lot of responsibility lies on me, especially in, like, answering phone. are always going to call me instead of because, like, I always answer it,” said Herrera.
Cleveland Clinic also says that for middle children, the traits most commonly associated with them are: empathy, realism, nonchalance and independence. The stereotype that surrounds middle children is that they are often overlooked and forgotten by their family. That doesn’t apply to all middle children, but there is often an undeniable unfairness in the treatment that middle children receive as opposed to the eldest and youngest children.
Sophomore Nathan Pinedo resonates heavily with the middle child experiences. He often faces unfairness with his younger siblings getting what they want whenever they want, as well as struggling with feeling lonely and left out in various social settings.
“My brothers, like my little brother, if he wanted something on the occasion he would get it way quicker or way easier than me. And it would be harder for me to, like, make friends. It’s harder for me to communicate with others,” said Pinedo.
Finally with the youngest children, the traits that are usually connected with them are: rebellion, extroversion, socialness and persistence. Youngest children are typically known to have either heavily overbearing or lenient parents. This is the more complicated syndrome because the treatment of the child is dependent on their parents and older siblings. Sometimes, the younger child is motivated to be just as good or better than their older siblings and other times there is a reluctance to follow in their footsteps.
Junior Jamielyn Cabrera believes that her behavior differs from her older brother and because of that she embodies the youngest child stereotype by being more rebellious and uncontrolled than her older sibling.
“‘The bad kid,’ that’s me, that’s me. Like, you know, Jim, he’s the little good kid. He does a little hooligan stuff, but he’s a good kid. I’m the one that does bad stuff,” said Cabrera.
Regardless of the fact that it is all theoretical, it tends to hold a significant truth as many fall into the stereotypes that stem from these syndromes. The order in which individuals are born enforces certain personality types onto them whether it is conscious or not.
