The purpose of this research is to discuss sibling birth order, its effect on personality, and normal and abnormal and intellectual behavior.
Birth order is the position into which a child is born within the framework of a specific family. Birth order influences how one copes with people and society, on an individual and on a group basis.
Studies and experiments tend to prove that birth order, or ordinal position in a family, is useful in gaining insights into human behavior and patterns of behavior. The birth order factor is also useful for teachers and counselors dealing with adolescents, particularly in a classroom situation since birth order and sibling interaction also effects motivation, achievement, social skills, career choice and life style.
Theories of the birth order factor apply not only to Western, or American society, but to all cultures throughout history. Mythology and history contain many examples of the favored child based on birth order as well as sex.
In her classic study of primitive adolescent girls, anthropologist Margaret Mead pointed out the importance of birth order in primitive societies, and how this affects functions and prestige in the family and larger society as well as personality. Although birthdays are of little account in Samoa, the birth itself of the baby of high rank is important, she wrote. "Relative age is of great importance, for the elder may always command the younger--until the positions of adult life upset the arrangement (Mead, 1955, p. 23).
Interest and research on birth order differences and its effect on human development can be traced back to the 19th century. "The oldest issue in sibling research is the effect of birth order, the sequence in which brothers and sisters are born into a family" (Markus, 1981, p. 35). Evidence indicates that there is a connection between birth order and a variety of other traits and behavior including self-esteem, neuroticism, co...