Birth Order: Effects on Child Development

Birth order can be referred to as the order or position by which an individual is born. The order may be in terms of first-born, second-born progressively up to the last born. Birth order is an indicator of any child's personal development (Black, Gronqvist, & Ockert, 2018). Moreover, it also influences the behavior and emotions of children in their future lives. This is driven by specific emotional experiences or the effects of other siblings surrounding a particular child.

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Henderson and Hutton (2018) discussed various childhood characteristics, that can lead to the success of children in the family. Specifically, the two authors explain that for a child to become a CEO of a particular organization, and others being so low in their socioeconomic status is driven by their birth orders and how they get treated by their parents, caretakers or guardians. Kumari and Singh, (2018), also did research and used a sampling method to pick on school students from different colleges. Their main aim of doing the study was to collect the data, analyses them, and find how birth order influenced personalities of the adolescent children (Botzet, Rohrer & Arslan, 2018).

Objectives

The study was done to determine the various considerations that made someone become a leader in society. The study aimed at tracing back the birth orders of leaders and establishing their social lives at child levels. The survey was typically designed at revealing the relationship between birth orders, personality, and probably leadership roles that they can play (Tricarichi & Jalajas, 2019). Generally, to obtain accurate data and statistics on this research involving birth order and personality, the study was designed appropriate research methods, collect the actual data, analyze them, and draw meaning information from and final report and draw relevant conclusions for the linkage between the two concepts.

Methods

The study participants selected ran across the students from the first year to the fourth year and were expected to present personal views concerning birth order and personality. There was about 100 participant who took part in the exercise voluntarily. Realizing that time was of importance, the poll took 45 minutes, which was enough to cover all the relevant sections of the study. The survey entailed three parts, which include demographic section, family background, and the effects of birth order on personality. Demographics present the personal details which were to be correlated with the responses to highlight the associated connection. The family background gave a direct link to nature based on birth order and family structure in connection with other factors that influence personality. The third section presented the participant's views on the influence of birth order on a character.

The materials for the survey used were questionnaires that had a combination of questions, both open-ended and closed. The questionnaires were used given that the analysis of the data would be relatively more comfortable when analyzing the same kind of response from the participants. The surveys were issued out, and the participants filled them in 45 minutes, and the respondents were encouraged to answer the questions independently. Afterward, the materials were collected for statistical analysis.

Results

After the raw data collection exercise, the collected data was required to be transformed into meaningful statistics that could be used by the researcher to determine whether the objectives of the research activity were achieved. The computation of the raw data into statistical results also helped in the conversion of the field data into information that could be understood by other individuals who were not part of the study activity.

Tabulation, as well as the use of graphs, were the two primary methods that were applied in the data analysis process. With the aid of charts, it was possible to measure central deviations in the participant's responses and also for the measurement of variance. The tables were formatted according to the client's answers to the open-ended questions.

Demographic distribution of various attributes of the participants

Year of study Gender Age brackets (Years) Family members and college education

1st -20

2nd - 2

3rd - N/A

4th - 6 Male- 1

Female- 19 18 to 24 - 6

25 to 30 - 19

Over 30- 7 First person - 5

Parents - 8

Siblings- 7

Grandparents- N/A

A one sample T-test was applied in the statistical analysis of the collected raw data. Upon tabulation and table sampling of other relevant data sets, there were various inferences that could be made regarding the research activity.

For instance, it was identified that most of the respondents fell within the 25- 30 age bracket. This goers to show that this is the most populous age set in the university demographic distribution. It was also identified that the female students were more readily available to take part in these research activities as compared to their male counterparts. This could be easily distinguished from the tabulated data.

From the data analysis process, the results obtained indicated that there was a relatively number of educated individuals out there, as the findings showed that very few respondents were the very first family members attending college.

Discussion

The research hypothesis was aimed at determining the relationship between the birth orders, i.e., their position in the family whether first born or second born and the likelihood of the child's success in their future social, economic endeavors.

From the research analysis, it was possible to identify that the educational level in the social sphere was quite well distributed and the children were, therefore, being brought up by parents who understood the various rules and regulations of the parenting guidelines. With such understanding that the parenting that a child gets subjected to is likely to influence their future outlook on various life aspects, the parents are oriented towards the provision of more responsible parenting (Damian, & Roberts, 2015).

It was, therefore, possible to identify that, firstborn children were better positioned to benefit from the perks or responsible parenting and consequently stood a better chance towards the achievement of proper socioeconomic status. Besides the first-born children, the last born was also at a better position of a positive future outlook based on their birth order position. To begin with, the parents may be in a position to acquire more resources for their use as well as the availability of older sibling to look up to and learn from. The results were, therefore, complementary to the initial study results, whereby it was also concluded that the birth position had a significant impact on the socioeconomic aspects of a child.

The primary strength of the study could be attributed to the availability of a large population sample availability for the study. This ensured that there was a wide variation in the data information controlled, thereby allowing for the catering of a more significant population sample (Boccio & Beaver, 2019).

However, there was a significant shortcoming in the gender balance, given that there was a severe shortage in the number of male respondents. The research activity may have been biased in the sense that the feedback response could be difficult to categorize in terms of gender since there would be a vast imbalance thereby making the results not scientific for use as secondary data for future research due to the inaccuracies present (Tricarichi, & Jalajas, 2019).

From the results obtained from the above research activity, it was also identified that there were certain related topics that required more research. This includes the middle children position and the effects that parenting has on the likelihood of their future socioeconomic success. Similarly, the plight of children born to parents who did not attain a college education and their impact on the child's upbringing and outlook on life (Rohrer, Egloff & Schmukle, 2017).

References

Black, S. E., Gronqvist, E., & Ockert, B. (2018). Born to lead? The effect of birth order on noncognitive abilities. Review of Economics and Statistics, 100(2), 274-286.

Boccio, C. M., & Beaver, K. M. (2019). Further examining the potential association between birth order and personality: Null results from a national sample of American siblings. Personality and Individual Differences, 139, 125-131.

Botzet, L. J., Rohrer, J. M., & Arslan, R. C. (2018). Effects of birth order on intelligence, educational attainment, personality, and risk aversion in an Indonesian sample.

Damian, R. I., & Roberts, B. W. (2015). The associations of birth order with personality and intelligence in a representative sample of US high school students. Journal of Research in Personality, 58, 96-105.

Henderson, M. T., & Hutton, I. (2018). CEO Traits and Firm Outcomes: Do Early Childhood Experiences Matter?. Available at SSRN 3374389. Retrieved from https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3374389

Kumari, A., & Singh, R. (2018). Effects of birth order on adolescent personality. International Journal of Education and Management Studies, 8(4), 400-402. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/openview/327b22aad876771898d87cfe2b5a7c89/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=2032132

Rohrer, J. M., Egloff, B., & Schmukle, S. C. (2015). Examining the effects of birth order on personality. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(46), 14224-14229.

Rohrer, J. M., Egloff, B., & Schmukle, S. C. (2017). Probing birth-order effects on narrow traits using specification-curve analysis. Psychological Science, 28(12), 1821-1832.

Tricarichi, C., & Jalajas, D. S. (2019). The Effect of Birth Order on Personality and Leadership. Journal of Organizational Psychology, 19(1). Retrieved from https://articlegateway.com/index.php/JOP/article/view/1094

Tricarichi, C., & Jalajas, D. S. (2019). The Effect of Birth Order on Personality and Leadership. Journal of Organizational Psychology, 19(1).