More conscientious elder, more creative younger… What your rank in a sibling group says about you

Does the place you occupy in your family determine your character? Is the eldest necessarily the wisest and the last the most turbulent? Previous studies have shown that firstborns tend to be more conscientious than their younger siblings, but recent work published in the academic journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (new window) noted other differences.

Psychology professors Michael Ashton (Brock University) and Kibeom Lee (University of Calgary) analyzed the personality traits of more than 700,000 volunteers based on their birth order among siblings and the number of children in the family unit. . Their conclusion: Middle children display more traits associated with cooperation than their siblings, traits that are also found in families with more children.

60% chance of being more pleasant

More concretely, if an only child and a person from a family of six were chosen at random, there would be a 60% chance that the nicest person would be the one from the large sibling group. While the number of siblings is the main factor influencing personality traits, birth order also plays a role. Another lesson from the study: the more brothers and sisters there are, the more personalities will tend to assert themselves.

According to Michael Ashton and Kibeom Lee, the results of this work challenge the idea that birth order and the number of children raised together do not have a significant impact on personality. “The weight of this evidence now indicates that levels of personality traits differ based on birth order and sibship size“, they emphasize in the report of their study.

We feel like we raised them exactly the same way, but we realize that they have very different personalities.

A mother

So much for the theory, but what about in real life? A TF1 team wanted to verify the assertions of these two psychology researchers. In the news video to see at the top of this article, several families agreed to play the game.The eldest is much more introverted, he is more in line with the norm and the rules. The last one is quite the opposite. And Maël, who is more sensitive, seeks his place between his big brother and his little brother“, describes a mother.

Let's move on to another sibling. Audrey, the eldest, is considered the most conscientious; Adrien, the second, the most humble and pleasant, while Océane, the last, would be the most creative. “We feel like we raised them exactly the same way, but we realize that they have very different personalities.“, underlines their mother. Because as the two researchers show in their study, personalities evolve according to life events.

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What Mehdi and Mona confirm. “I became a mother before he was a father. And I think there was a point where the roles were reversed. I had more of an advisory role for my brother, because I gained experience that he didn't have.“, underlines the sister, who is therefore the youngest.

According to the study, some factors might be intuitive. Having more siblings fosters a more cooperative personality, while being in the middle requires good relationships.