How Your Birth Order Shapes Your Personality

divinecaroline.com:

Are you a very neat person? Do you try to color coordinate your clothes? Love making lists? There's a good chance you're first born in your family birth order.

Your birth order affects your personality and nearly every aspect of your life, but it is not an absolute, indelible mark. It's only one of many factors in personality development. And no one order is better than another, however, it can be reversed or turned around by illness, early death, or the mental incapacity of a sibling.

If You're the First Born ...
The first-borns often are high achievers and are very conscientious, reliable, and loyal. They're also scholarly (not all the time, though) and feel better being in control of a situation (I know I do).

Why? The parents. It's the first baby and while there's a lot of excitement and anticipation on the parents' part, there's also a lot of pressure and demand from them to be the best.

This can result in two basic types: compliant and wanting to please, or strong-willed and aggressive. (It's possible to have traits of both.)

First-borns often have to grow up fast and become "little adults" before they're ready.

If the first is a female, she may be another "mother" to her siblings. If there's a youngest brother, he may be "mothered" by sister--even through adulthood! With the oldest brother, however, it's mutual respect and a friendly rivalry.

Read the whole story: divinecaroline.com

Comments

[javaz]

07:09 PM on 01/27/2009

As the youngest child out of four siblings, I am very insulted by this article.
I think the author, in drawing conclusions, fails to take into consideration the years between siblings and gender.
There are fifteen years between my oldest brother and myself.
My oldest brother does have a lot of the personality traits described, but not all.
He was studious and an achiever, but he is also the most spoiled and self-centered.
I'm not a manipulative entertainer but have always been the over-achiever, list-maker, and extremely organized.
I started working at 15 years old and have either worked part-time while attending school, or worked full time while going to college part-time.
I came from a working class family and my father ingrained in me the importance of financial independence and handling of finances.
All of us are older now and our parents have been deceased for years, and it is me, the youngest, that my siblings approach for financial help, advice and empathy.
I find this article horribly unfair and highly inaccurate.

[Aesthete]

12:23 PM on 01/28/2009

Don't be insulted. The items stated in the article are simply trends, not the actual facts of each person's life. I always approach articles such as this with a huge grain of salt. I'm very happy to hear about the outcome of your life.

[janinei]

12:58 PM on 01/27/2009

okay, riddle me this ms. birth order.... i am my dad's third child, my mom's first, when i was young i just had an older sister, but then she moved out and both my parents remarried, and i became the oldest... follow that??

[MsLilyBe]

04:46 PM on 01/28/2009

Gawd I know what you mean!

I am my father's youngest child and my mother's only child. I'm adopted and I'm my birth mother's oldest and I think my birth father's middle but I could be wrong about that and does it even play a role in the "birth order"?

L

[Aesthete]

12:04 PM on 01/27/2009

I'm the oldest of six. No matter how accomplished my younger siblings are, they still look up to me and seek my counsel.

[leeman79]

08:36 AM on 01/27/2009

Marsha, marsha, marsha.

[StigNordas]

11:24 PM on 01/26/2009

There's definite truth to this, especially when you compare siblings to only-children.

[kellygrrrl]

08:38 PM on 01/26/2009

Middle Child Rebel!!!!!

[FabulousAt52]

09:03 PM on 01/26/2009

I'm a middle child. Know what it got me? I am the mediator, the peace-maker, the sister-confessor, the one who was never old enough to do the fun stuff, and never young enough to be forever spoiled.
But that's ok, life is what it is. I turned out pretty darn good after all....

[kbella]

01:53 PM on 01/27/2009

I am right on board with that.....you encapsulated my life in your post. I too turned out quite well!

[SlithyTove]

05:00 PM on 01/26/2009

Written with all the usefulness and insight of a 'daily horoscope' entry.

[FabulousAt52]

08:38 PM on 01/26/2009

Oh

My

Gods......

I was going to say the EXACT same thing!! LOL