siblings

[percival]

I'm currently reading Frank J. Sulloway's (sp?) Born to Rebel.
As an only child, I'd like to ask your opinion of the theories he proposes.

Basically, firstborns are far more conscientious and less open to experience.
They also tend to be more aggressive and extroverted, and somewhat more neurotic.
Firstborns copy their parents/turn to their parents a lot.
Laterborns are gentler, more introverted, and definitely more open to new experiences.

The reason he gives is that each child looks for his/her own family niche. This will be an important influence on his/her personality; the second highest (?) after innate characteristics. Since birth rank is a powerful influence on the type of niche available, it's a good predictor of various personality traits. He even maintains that it's a better predictor than gender!

What do you think about this?

Comments

[queenriley.livejournal.com]

I don't know how much this will help, but I have 3 versions for you. First, myself. I'm the youngest. I'm shy. I'm extremely introverted. I am not open to most new experiances, though I try them because I know I should or I do it for others. I am very sensitive, very gentle, very softspoken. My older sister is open to anything. She is not shy. She is quite extroverted. She is loud. She is outspoken. She's a lot like my mother, especially in how outgoing they both are. I'm almost a personality carbon copy of my father, especially in the sense that neither of us would ever leave the house and interact with other people if we didn't have to (except my temper, which is like my mother).

My husband is the oldest of three. None of his siblings is softspoken or quiet. However, he is much more outgoing than both of them. He is loud and boisterous, though I'm not sure how much of that is firstborn and how much is his ADHD. He has a tendancy to be brash and can hurt people's feelings without meaning to or even realizing he's doing it. My sister and mother do the same. Actually, thinking about it, my mother is an only child. My father is the youngest of 10.

And then we have my daughter. She's outspoken. She'll try anything. She's much more determined than I ever was to succeed. She's a people magnet and for the most part, loves the attention. She is shy only around large and strange men.

So I guess it does somewhat follow the theory. :)