When it comes to siblings, it seems as if the oldest will always be ambitious, the middle child(ren) will always be easy-going and the youngest will always be the least responsible, right? Not so fast.
If you’re looking at your family and thinking those personality traits don’t sound like my siblings, science is right behind you.
Birth order doesn’t matter
According to a recent study published in the Journal of Research in Personality, the order in which people are born does not have a significant effect on IQ or personality.
If you’re the oldest and you are more responsible than your siblings, it probably has more to do with the fact that your parents gave you responsibility (watching younger siblings, doing more chores, running errands, etc.) than your younger sisters and brothers, and less to do with the fact that you were born first.
The Washington Post tells us more about where the notion of birth order affecting IQ and personality came from in the first place.
Do the study’s findings make sense or do you think there really is something unique about the order people are born? Let us know!
