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Bob likes to be the center of attention. Joe feels that he has authority. Julia tries to outdo everyone and Jimmy just wants to be bigger than the others. What do these all have to do with Birth Order? These all deal with the children's characteristics depending upon when they were born. Birth Order is the cause of each person's personality and individual characteristics.
Using 'Bob' as an example, he enjoys being the center of attention. He is obviously an only child. 'As an only child, one will develop those characteristics from always having to cope with playing alone and with having to fend off adult intrusion' (Stein 1). Children that are the only child, found from research, seem to have the 'Leave me alone, I'd rather do it myself' attitude (Isaacson 1). This would definitely have a thing or two to do with how this child would act and go throughout life. 'This child will usually stay on the path' (Isaacson 1). With the few characteristics shown, one can tell that because of being an only child, this person will end up going through life looking at things in a different way than those that grow up with siblings. Likewise, a child that was the only child, but then has a younger sibling brought into the family will also have different characteristics. 'Once the second child is born, there is a feeling of abandonment to the first born child' (Isaacson 3). 'The first born child will show a demanding behavior' (Isaacson 3). 'They may even show off just because they want to get the attention that they have lost' (Isaacson 3).
Once the second child comes along, the first born child feels that they have the power (Isaacson 2). 'This child will usually pursue many different goals quickly' (Isaacson 3). Further on in life this child will more than likely have a different attitude toward life than a child born second or third. 'First born's, grow up knowing they are bigger, stronger, and smarter than their younger siblings' (Could 68). In the long run, they will continue to act in this manner and be successful in their own way. Along comes the second or middle child, which is assumed to get all of the attention. 'Yet, the attention toward the second born is lost as the first born aggressively takes it away' (Isaacson 3). 'This leaves the child to feel as if he or she cannot do anything well enough' (Isaacson 3). This causes for a person's personality to be different from those of others. For a child being born second, it is sometimes difficult to achieve as much or do as well as the first child did.
Nothing seems good enough to the second born child (Isaacson 3). 'The second child being born usually tries to out do everybody' (Isaacson 3). Again, this is a difference in personality depending on when and how you were raised. This child is going to turn out different then the first born child. Furthermore, the last child born will also end up having different personality traits than the first and second born. 'This child is picked on by the second born' (Isaacson 3). It occurs because the older child is 'trying to pass on the feeling of inadequacy' (Isaacson 3). This can cause the youngest child to become rather rebellious (Isaacson 4).
It just goes to show that each child will turn out different because of when they are born in the family. The child will get a different view on things if they are born first, second, or last. In the same way, parents can give the children different views. 'In any family a lot depends on the personality and parenting style of Mom and Dad' (Leman 55). Each parent has their own preference on how to raise a child. Whatever way the parent raises the child, it has a huge impact on what the child's personality is like (Leman 55).
Depending on if the parents are too extreme when punishing a child for not even doing anything too horrible or if a parent is careless and gives their child all the freedom in the world, there will be different outcomes in a child's personality (Leman 55). On the other side, people feel that everyone has their own individual personality and do not act different for any specific reason. The lifestyle of a person obviously tends to change a person's personality and characteristics. Clearly, birth order also has an affect in a person's characteristics. Yes, people may change throughout the years, but in general, they act and think in the way that they do because of how their childhood was. Maybe they were spoiled, or possibly they were not loved as much as the other children (Stein 1).
All in all, it will affect them. In addition, some people do not believe that the study is true because some of the cases do not turn out to be exactly as the birth order statistics (Leman 34). The problem is that people think that 'first born's are suppose to be this, second born's are like that, and third-born siblings are always another way, and so on' (Leman 34). It does not work in exactly this way.
If anything different happens in life, it may change how a child acts (Leman 34). 'When variables take effect, they cause a child born in one birth position to function with characteristics of another birth position' (Leman 34). This does not mean that birth order does not work out. 'All birth orders have certain tendencies and general characteristics, but the real key to the whole thing is that there are dynamic fluid relationships existing between members of the family' (Leman 34). Basically this is stating that certain things can change the way a person's personality actually is, but the general characteristics are determined by when you were born and how you were raised. A lot of research has been done throughout the years about the general characteristics of an individual. 'Adler maintained that personality differences among the oldest, middle, and youngest child in a family could be attributed in part to their belonging to a unique social group based on their order of birth in the family' (Kasschau 21). A lot of studies were done and it was found that in most cases, when there were no intrusions on how the family was raised, birth order had an effect on people's personalities (Leman 33). Just think about it.
If one was the oldest, they would feel far more superior than the other siblings (Isaacson 2). On the other hand, if one was the youngest, or the baby of the family, they would get spoiled and wish to be older than the others (Isaacson 4). The middle child usually feels stuck, as if they do not get their way in any situation (Isaacson 3). All of these would affect how a person grows up. Each individuals personality and characteristics are determined by their birth order.
When 'Bob, ' the only child grows older, his attitude and personality upon things will be different than 'Joe's, ' who is the first born child. Same goes for the second born, third born, and so on. All of these children will grow up with different parenting, caused by when they were born. They will be unlike each other since they were born in that specific order.
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Research essay sample on Does Birth Order Affect The Way You Are
