Birth Order Theory

Introduction
+ Birth order: the theory that the order in which siblings are born is a factor in their
individual personalities (Brennan, 2021)
+ Developed by Alfred Adler
+ Outlined personalities of seven birth order characteristics, but most important were the
definitions of the oldest children, middle children, and youngest children
+ Oldest child - highest expectations, expected to be the most responsible, show
the most leadership ability
+ Youngest child - most rebellious because parents are more relaxed with kids as
they have more, most empathetic, most likely to abuse alcohol, they can either
be avoidant or have a lot of drive to excel
+ Middle child - Most competitive because of the standards brought on from the
older sibling , most sociable, often feel left out, independent (Marano, 2017;
“Alfred Adler Birth Order Theory explained”, n.d.)
Smith & Goodchilds (1963)
Study conducted in 1963 based on Schachter’s (1959) theory that earlier born siblings will be
more reliant on validation from social groups
Hypothesis
+ Older children will conform more in the group than younger children
+ Older will be more efficient during group discussion
+ Older will be more apt to read the groups behaviors and act accordingly
+ It was thought that these hypotheses would be more apparent within larger groups of
people
Procedure
+ To find out how men work together in group situations
+ Participants answered two questions and filled out a questionnaire prior to a group
discussion
+ All questions asked were to lead to a good discussion among the group
+ These questions were measuring self confidence, conformity, perceived clarity of group
role structure, formal rank, and task efficiency in group situations.
Results + Discussion
+ Important to note that only children were classified as first born children throughout the
study, so the behavioral characteristics of both first born and only children were
combined
+ The findings of this research supported the hypothesis
+ Earlier born children were more likely to conform to group behaviors in order to receive
validation, which was in alignment with the hypothesis and Adler’s definition of older
children behaviors
+ Superiority of first born children was present in the large group discussions
+ Because older children were more likely to assume leadership positions, the captains of
the discussion groups were mostly first borns
More Information about birth order
http://www.adlerian.us/birthord.htm
https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/family/birth-order-theory-insights-into-your-personality/
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2001-17729-004

References
Alfred Adler Birth Order Theory explained. HRF. (2017, December 29).
https://healthresearchfunding.org/alfred-adler-birth-order-theory-explained/
Brennan, D. (2021, June 28). Birth order: What you should know. WebMD.
https://www.webmd.com/parenting/what-to-know-about-birth-order#2
Marano, E. K. (2017). An Analysis of Empirical Validity of Alfred Adler’s Theory of Birth
Order. Aletheia, vol. 2(1). https://alphachihonor.org/wp-content/uploads/Aletheia/2017-
V2-1/Analysis-of-Empirical-Validity-of-Alfred-Adlers-Theory-of-Birth-Order.pdf
Smith, E. E., & Goodchilds, J. D. (1963). Some personality and behavioral factors
related to birth order. Journal of Applied Psychology, 47(5), 300–303.
https://doi.org/10.1037/h0040650