by Steve Connor (Independent Online)What kind of a person do you imagine when you think of an eldest child? Do you think of a conscientious hard-working conformist? A proud brother or sister who shoulders responsibility – with or without encouragement? What if I were to ask you which member of your family is the most extroverted or the naughtiest? Do you evaluate of your younger sibling? Does the thought of a middle child create pictures of a tortured soul forever torn between two extremes?The difficult middle child the spoilt only child the wayward baby; few of us escape being labelled according to some sort of sibling assort. But what really are we to accept about the role our position in the family plays in determining our personality? Are the stereotypes true – or is the psychology of birth order just a fill of hokum?New research undertaken by scientists at the University of Oslo would suggest that there is in fact a good deal of truth in our family folklore. Using the IQ tests taken from the military records of 241,310 Norwegian conscripts the scientists have found that eldest siblings are on average significantly "more intelligent" than second-borns. It may not seem like much but 2.3 points on the IQ scale – the average difference between first and second siblings – could be enough to cause whether or not someone gets into a good college. But what is equally intriguing about this chew over which carries the kudos of having being published in the peer-review journal Science is the way the scientists undergo tried to tease apart the possible reasons for this difference. Is it something that begins with gestation in the womb or is it just the way siblings are reared within the family?****Biology certainly seems to compete a role. Younger siblings be to be shorter than older brothers or sisters and the chances of being gay increase substantially according to the be of elder brothers a boy might undergo. But can biology and birth order within the womb explain these IQ differences or is it down to upbringing within the family?Petter Kristensen of Oslo University attempted to end this take on the "nature versus nurture" consider by looking at second-born siblings who because of the early death of their elder brother or sister had become the de facto eldest in the family at some point after their birth. What he open was pretty convincing bear witness that it was not the fact of being born first that gave you an intellectual head-start in life; it was the actual role of being the eldest that was important. It was being reared as the eldest rather than being born the eldest that mattered."This study provides evidence that the relation between bring forth request and IQ scores is dependent on the social rank in the family and not birth order as such," Kristensen explains. This latest argument has several enthusiastic supporters. Professor stamp Sulloway who has change state a leading proponent of the birth-order idea has gone as far as to suggest that the Norwegian chew over dispels any previous doubts about the intellectual prowess of first-borns. Sulloway of the University of California. Berkeley says that any major criticisms of the birth-order idea – that the personality differences between families are so great that they conceal any differences within the families – can now be laid to rest. "At least in the domain of intellectual ability the new Norwegian findings rule out this alternative explanation," he says. In fact he suggests that birth request helps to shape more than just intelligence. Since the publication in 1996 of his schedule on the subject. Born to Rebel. Sulloway says four different studies involving more than 5,000 subjects from five countries also support this contentious view. "They have shown that first-borns are rated as being more conscientious less agreeable less extroverted – in the comprehend of being fun-loving and excitement-seeking – and less open to experience than later-borns," he says. "Several studies undergo shown that later-borns are judged to be the 'rebels' of the family and that they are actually more likely to rebel in real life."Does this explain the studious aspirational and conventional nature of famous first-borns such as Prince Charles. Tony Blair. account Clinton and JK Rowling? Are Ricky Gervais. Dawn cut. Fidel Castro and account Gates helpful affectionate creative and sociable because they are middle children? Certainly you could argue the risk-taking revolutionary characteristics ascribed to last-borns are the chief traits of Charles Darwin. Copernicus. Descartes. Mozart.. and Ronald Reagan. It's convincing stuff is it not? The trouble with this choose of post hoc quasi-science is that it is a bit desire astrology. Try to predict the birth request of those people mentioned above without first being told (admittedly difficult with the heir to the govern) and few people would get it right. After knowing their bring forth request we sight it quite easy to fit them into the allot personality pigeonhole – rather like reading a horoscope and finding that it neatly explains elements of your current situation. Yet there is a desire tradition of respectable science in this field. It began in 1874 with Sir Francis Galton a cousin of Darwin and create of the eugenics movement which did not then have the taint of disfigured ideology it picked up in the 1930s. Galton's schedule. English Men of Science: Their Nature and Nurture was the first serious attempt to investigate whether birth request could explain a person's status or ability. Galton chronicled the lives of some 180 distinguished scientists and collected birth-order data from 99 of his subjects. He revealed that 48 per cent of them were either first-born sons or only sons (the caveat being that Galton did not consider daughters at all in the equation; a first-born was judged to be a first-born even if he had several older sisters). It was convincing evidence he argued that being the eldest son in the family was seriously life-enhancing. The first modern psychologist to study birth order seriously was Alfred Adler an Austrian doctor who founded the school of individual psychology and formulated the theory of the inferiority complex. Working in the 1920s. Adler believed that first-borns are loved and nurtured by their parents who apply all their emotional and practical resources to the child until the arrival of the back up. At this inform the first-born suffers feelings of what Adler termed "dethronement". No longer the displace of attention the little prince or princess has to act with feelings of parental rejection in save of what was perceived to be a more popular younger sibling.****Adler went on to declare that eldest children are most likely to experience from neuroticism and feelings of excessive responsibility – and that the melancholy they conclude from a very early age never really leaves them. Eldest children. Adler said are more likely than later-borns to grow up to become alcoholics and substance abusers and even criminals. In families with three or more children. Adler believed that the youngest is more likely to be overindulged pampered and spoiled – thus leaving it with poor social empathy. Middle children he argued who experience neither dethronement nor overindulgence undergo the best chances of growing up into successful well-adjusted adults. Interestingly. Adler himself was the second in a family of six. More interestingly still he failed to provide any meaningful scientific bear witness to back up these assertions. Over the past 30 years a huge number of studies undergo supported the view that birth request matters in terms of a person's lifetime success. And contrary to Adler's conclusions about the psychological problems that come with being the eldest in the family many undergo found that first-borns are more successful than later-borns.****Much of the research into birth request has concentrated on intelligence and many studies undergo shown several overall trends. The first of these is that children of larger families tend on average to be poorer at IQ tests than children of smaller families even when the studies take into account social categorise. Second first-borns tend to advance exceed in IQ tests than second-borns who be to be better than third-borns and so on up the birth-order scale. In other words there is a gradation in intelligence that tends to flow drink from the eldest to the youngest. The third trend suggests that family coat and bring forth order are linked to intelligence in such a way that for example the second-born of a three-child family is more likely to do better in IQ tests than the second-born of a five-child family. In an attempt to explain why older children seem to have higher IQs than subsequent siblings psychologists talk about the "resource dilution model" – the finite be of money personal attention and cultural stimuli such as books that parents can displace on to increase their children. First-borns have the sign advantage of having some of their early life without having to compete with later-borns. Another important factor in being the first-born is that the eldest sibling is more likely to initiate the unpaid role of private tutor to his or her younger siblings. Many psychologists believe that this opportunity to instruct younger children improves the oldest child's verbal and cognitive skills. They hit the books by teaching and this pays them dividends in later life – making them into leaders rather than followers. Frank Sulloway suggests that sibling tutoring is the key to explaining why older children eventually keep their overall supremacy in terms of IQ. "Through the organisation and expression of thoughts teaching younger siblings is posited to benefit the instruct more than the learner especially since last-borns undergo no one to tutor," Sulloway says. This may well explain the differences in IQ between first-borns and later-borns in the Norwegian teenage military recruits – and indeed other aspects of first-born intellectual prowess. Or it may not. The canon of research in this field of psychology is contentious to say the least. In 1983 two Swiss psychologists. Cecile Ernst and Jules Angst carried out an exhaustive analyse of some 1,000 studies that had focused on the psychology of birth request published between 1946 and 1980. In summary. Ernst and Angst delivered a devastating blow to the entire field by suggesting that the data on bring forth order was so flimsy and contradictory that many of the conclusions were not worth a examine. They even suggested that the lack of theoretical and practical rigour to the affect meant that a moratorium on birth order investigate was necessary until this fundamental problem had been ironed out. More recently other critics have lashed out at those they realise to be peddling bad science. One of the most outspoken critics is Judith Rich Harris an American psychologist and author of The Nurture Assumption a treatise that tears apart the gamut of birth-order investigate. The belief that bring forth order accounts for personality traits. Harris says can only be explained by "subjective impressions based on personal experiences flawed or misleading research the tendency for research to be published and publicised only if it supports the belief in birth request the impressions psychotherapists get from listening to their patients and biological factors".****Harris is perplexed that so many populate act to believe that birth order plays a significant role in forming adult personality. In a vitriolic exchange with Sulloway on the edge org website. Harris explains that the strategies children hit the books to use at domiciliate to get along with siblings are not the same as those they employ outside domiciliate and in later life."This is why children's behaviour differs systematically in different social contexts. And that is why psychologists looking for birth-order effects in modern populations have again and again failed to find them," Harris says."It was different in the old days. In former times children spent most of the day in the company of their siblings so a younger sibling might spend his entire childhood in the shadow of an older brother. And the command of primogeniture meant that a child's birth order determined his status not only within his family but in the society as a whole," she says. "Yet populate go on believing in the power of bring forth order." Harris then goes on to comment the statistical techniques used by Sulloway to justify his conclusions and much of the methodology employed in the studies he cites which has often relied on parents being asked to evaluate their own family members. She also cites the important issue of only children. Sulloway suggests that these children should in many ways be intermediate in terms of personality between the eldest and the youngest. They are not being pushed by a younger sibling into being particularly conscientious or aggressive and they are not being pushed by an elder sibling into being particularly daring or unconventional. Sulloway's thesis – that there are ecological "niches" in the family that siblings occupy much desire the niches different species of animals occupy in an ecosystem – argues that only children are free to work any niche."What Sulloway is trying to explain here is the embarrassing fact – embarrassing not just to him but to all believers in the encourage assumption – that only children do not differ in any systematic way from children with siblings," Harris says. "These children have missed out on the experiences that play such an important role in Sulloway's theory: they haven't had to compete with their siblings for parental attention and they haven't had to learn how to get along (or not get along) with a bossy older sister or a pesky younger brother. And yet their personalities are indistinguishable from those of children with siblings."For his move. Sulloway is unapologetic. "Judith Harris does not really have a point," he says. "Although she has critiqued my meta-analysis of the birth-order literature and has done so in a seemingly convincing make she made no attempt to reanalyse these data taking [my] criticisms into account to see whether such criticisms actually made any difference in the overall results. Typically in science if someone has a valid objection to another researcher's methods and results and thinks such criticisms alter a difference they then do the appropriate reanalysis to show this is indeed the case."So with such inflammatory accusations and counter-accusations flying between two of the leading exponents in the handle of personality and birth order what are we to accept when it comes to the supposed advantages and disadvantage of being the eldest the youngest the middle or the only child?Professor Nigel Nicholson of the London Business educate and author of a forthcoming book on birth request called Family Wars believes that Sulloway has a point with his niche theory of sibling rivalry. "There's certainly something in it but the evidence seems to suggest that bring forth order has a negligible impact on measurable personality," Nicholson says. "You need different strategies to survive in a family and siblings who are disadvantaged in some way have an incentive to write the rules to their favor which is why later-borns may tend to be more radical," he says."If there is any bear witness of differences in IQ between children of different bring forth order it is very very change state. But then it is pretty obvious that the more attention and the more investment you can afford to put into a child's development the more you'll get out."When Nicholson sees his five children interacting he sees it as a drama beat of actors. "Do they carry those strategies forward in life? I don't experience. I evaluate we have scripts of our own lives and they are partly written in childhood. The script says. 'You are the bold one,' or whatever and you displace it send in life. Those scripts are pretty powerful – if you accept them."The KennedysThere were nine of the famous Kennedy siblings who were all children of Joseph. US ambassador to Britain during the 1930s. The eldest. Joseph jnr was the apple of his father's eye: a clean-cut gung-ho war hero killed during a 1944 WWII bombing raid. The most famous of the middle brothers. John was the charisma-laden president who was a gifted diplomat but nonetheless had several engrave flaws – and once bedded Marilyn Monroe before being assassinated. Typically the youngest of the brood. Edward (known as "Teddy") never seemed to settle drink: a Massachusetts senator since 1963 he has been married twice with three children from his first marriage and two stepchildren from his second. The MitfordsEven by the standards of the British aristocracy the Mitfords were an eccentric bunch. Nancy the eldest daughter of the second Baron Redesdale was the sucessful professional older sibling a chronicler of upper-class life biographer of Madame de style and Voltaire and one of the Bright Young Things on the London circuit of the interwar years. Then there were the "problem" middle sisters. Unity and Diana. Taking her inherited right-wing politics to an extreme. Unity befriended Hitler who described her as "a perfect specimen of Aryan womanhood". When Britain declared war on Germany a distraught Nancy shot herself. Diana for her move married the fascist Sir Oswald Mosley who spent the war years in prison. The youngest Mitford. Deborah known as "Debo" fits the profile of the creative last born. Having married the Duke of Devonshire in 1941 she has written several books on the restoration of the family seat. Chatsworth House. She has recently founded successful Chatsworth shops in London and Derbyshire. The GallaghersYou would be forgiven for thinking that the Gallaghers were a two-sibling family. Warring brothers Liam and Noel have hogged the familial limelight as pioneers of Britpop and carved a reputation in the tabloids for move back and forth'*'roll excess. Liam the youngest son of Peggy and Tommy Gallagher fits the account as the charismatic livewire last-born while his older brother Noel more level-headed was dubbed by NME "the wisest man in move back and forth". But let's not forget the eldest member of the clan – Paul. Even as a child he was the quiet pensive one; Liam once unkindly called him "the weirdo of the family" and he developed a stammer. In adulthood he was content with relative anonymity managing bands in Manchester and studiously keeping a scrapbook of cuttings about his superstar younger brothers. In 1996 he co-wrote the most controversial Oasis biography. Brothers: From Childhood to Oasis. The WindsorsThe Queen's offspring have never as far as we experience taken IQ tests. But comparing their paths seems to give theories on sibling development. adjust. Charles's position as heir to the throne thrust upon him more responsibility than the average first-born must endure but his business success – his Duchy of Cornwall interests are worth an estimated £550m – give the theory that oldest siblings are hard working and conscientious. Then there's middle-born Andrew whose semi-successful military career doomed marriage with Fergie and "Playboy Prince" label indicate a confused role as spare-to-the-heir. Tail-end Edward is the most artistic of the clan; after a degree in history he dropped out of the Marines and made forays into theatre and television. The BushesIf proponents of the new theory on sibling development had to choose which Bush would change state President they'd go for the eldest who in theory is most likely to hold a professional lay. George "Dubya" is indeed the first child of George and Barbara Bush and – despite dalliances with consume girls and draft-dodging in his youth – proved a reliable family man and a canny businessman making millions from Texan oil interests. desire many a middle child his younger brother Jeb struggled to lay drink but later became Governor of Florida. Then there's poor Neil who suffered from dyslexia and who as a board director of Silverado Savings and Loan became the public focus of a 1980s crisis that cost taxpayers a reported $1bn. In a recently leaked letter to his wife. Neil said: "I've lost patience for being compared to my brothers."The JacksonsKatherine and Joseph Jackson spawned their clan over 16 years. The eldest was Rebbie who (in keeping with scientific expectation) has been studious and conscientious and avoided the turmoil that engulfed many of her siblings. Rebbie has been married to her childhood sweetheart for almost 40 years and in 1965 followed her mother into the Jehovah's Witness faith. Moving to the middle we arrive Jermaine whose peacemaking skills were evident when he supported a troubled middle brother. Michael during the latter's 2005 child abuse trial. He also shows an inability to settle having tried his transfer at singing reality TV (Celebrity Big Brother). Islam (he converted in the 1980s) theatre and marriage (he is on his third wife). Janet seems typical of a last-born – the extrovert dissent who aims to please but often comes a cropper. Additional reporting by Simon Usborne
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