Born to connect Does Our Birth Order Influence
Born to connect Does Our Birth Order Influence the Way We Choose Friends?
Scientific Question I chose to do this project because I noticed that my older sister, a First Born, has almost all First Borns as her closest friends, and I, a Last Born, have all Last Born children as my closest friends. So I began to wonder: “Does our birth order influence the way we choose our friends? ” 2
Variables Controlled variable: My controlled variables are the questions we are asking the Subjects and that the Subjects are all under the age of 18. Manipulated variable: My manipulated variables are that we are surveying different children of different ages. 3 Responding variable: My responding variable are the responses of the children and whether their birth order matches the birth order of their closest friends.
Hypothesis If I survey at least 50 children, I will find that most of their closest friends will be of the same birth order as them. For example, the first born children’s friends will also be the oldest in their respective families. In the same way, the youngest children in their families will most likely have a friend group of last-borns. 4
Background research ● How Birth Order Affects Your Personality, by Joshua K. Hartshorn (January 1, 2010) ● www. scientificamerican. com ● ● ● Popular belief is that birth order does affect personality, but when you look deeper at the results of studies, you find that the evidence does not support this belief A common statistic that is used when speaking about this topic is that 21/23 NASA astronauts that were chosen for space missions were firstborns. Some assume that this statistic means that first-borns are more ambitious and intelligent Studies since 1980’s show mostly that birth order does affect personality ● ● 5 Hartshorn states that Family Size is the biggest influence upon personality. Family Size affects the percentage of being first-born (you have 50% of being a firstborn in a 2 -child family, but only a 20% chance in a 5 -child family). It also affects the amount of money, time, and attention each child receives. Family Size can also be affected by cultural background, level of education, and/or wealth Of approximately 65, 000 articles listed by Google, most do not take Family Size into consideration
Analysis Mr. Hartshorn’s article confirmed that there does seem to be a relationship between birth order and personality. However, he believes that FAMILY SIZE plays a bigger part in affecting personality and the opportunities you may have in life as family size directly affects the amount of education, attention, and wealth each child receives. 6
BACKGROUND RESEARCH reliable and always striving to please Birth Order Traits: Your Guide to Sibling Personality Differences, by Joselyn Voo (updated July 30, 2020) ● ● ● Dr. Kevin Leman, in The Birth Order Book: Why You Are the Way You Are (1967) states that sibling personality differences lies in birth order and how parents treat their child because of it. This theory is supported by Meri Wallace, a child/family therapist, in Birth Order Blues (1999) Parents of First Borns are extremely attentive, stringent with rules and overly neurotic about details, causing them to be perfectionists, controlling, structured, cautious, conscientious, ● ● 7 Parents of Middle Borns are less strict with rules and less attentive, causing them to be people pleasers, somewhat rebellious, thrive on friendships, have huge social circles, and are peacemakers Parents of Last Borns have become increasingly more relaxed towards parenting, causing the Last Borns to be fun-loving, uncomplicated, manipulative, outgoing, attention seekers (with natural charm), and self-centred Parents of Only Children direct all of their support and attention to the child, therefore, they are mature, perfectionists, conscientious, diligent, and leaders
analysis Like Joshua Hartshorn, Jocelyn Voo also does confirm that there seems to be a relationship between birth order and personality but she believes that this is not because of the personalities that different siblings are born with, but because of the different way parents treat their children based upon their birth order-- like the amount and type of attention each child receives 8
Background research Birth Order May Not Shape Personality After All, by Ben Guarino (March 14, 2019) ● (www. washingtonpost. com) ● ● ● Popular belief is that birth order shapes personality and defines stereotypes (Eg. First-borns = intellectual, mature, responsible, conformists. Later-borns = risk takers, creative rebels) Popular book, Born to Rebel by Frank J. Sulloway (1996), confirmed this belief and stereotypes IQ of adults could be affected by amount of mental stimulation they were given as children ● ● 9 But since 1996, there has been a growing amount of evidence to disprove Sulloway’s theories and these studies use more data and show a relationship between birth order personalities-but in adults 2015 study assessed 20, 000 people in Germany, US and UK and found that birth order did not alter “Big 5 Personality Traits” (Conscientiousness, Openness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism) Rodica Damien, a US social-physiologist studied 375, 000 high-school students in 2015 and confirmed that birth order does not influence the “Big 5”. But she and other scientists have found that birth order does slightly influence intelligence with First-Borns having an average of 1 -2 higher IQ points
BACKGROUND RESEARCH Birth Order May Not Shape Personality After All (continued) ● ● ● “Null Effect” = studies that do not show significant effects are often not published Sulloway quoted a 1968 study that shows that Later-Borns more likely to play dangerous sports. He also quoted a 2010 survey that showed that Later-Borns in Major League Baseball are 10 x more likely to attempt to steal bases ● 10 Study conclusions may also confuse birth order and age. Some personality traits are developed later, so a subject may have a type of characteristic not because of birth order, but because of influences gained from age Damien does state that birth order affects grown-up personalities but looks at how culture and education are also influences ○ Eg. Family Size (affected by wealth and education-levels) could affect statistic that Harvard’s 2021 class is 40% firstborn, 32% youngest born and 14% middle siblings
analysis Like the other authors, Mr. Guarino also thought that personality was more likely affected by factors such as cultural background, family size, education, wealth levels of parents, and the age and experience of the subjects themselves rather than birth order. 11
Materials and tools ● ● ● Methods to contact people (and ask them to participate) Paper or computer to create and send out questions and record answers Apps to put data into graphs 12
OBSERVATIONS AND Data Qualitative: Quantitative: People I survey Number of people I survey Overall percentage of matches between Subjects and Friends Match percentantages for each Subject Birth order of Subject and Friends 13
procedure 1. Ask for responses on social media or in person 2. Collect data from at least 50 children 3. Record data and make sure they are all in one place 4. Put data onto graphs and analyze results 14
Survey Questions What is your birth order? (Only/Oldest, Middle, Youngest) _____ What is the birth order of your 4 closest friends? (Only/Oldest, Middle, Youngest) Friend 1: ______ Friend 3: ______ Friend 2: ______ Friend 4: ______ 15
Graphs 16
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I also created a graph which charted the ages and match percentages of the Subjects to see if age might affect the results. This did not really prove my hypothesis but did show that most Subjects have at least one friend that has the same birth order as them. Note: Some dots are overlapping - that is why there are less dots than total number of subjects (77) 20
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Oldest/Only children had a much higher percentage of matches compared to Middle and Youngest. As suggested by the Background Research, parents likely give a different amount and type of attention to each of their children. This creates common personality traits among oldest/only children, which then affects whom they choose as friends Middle children had very low match percentages This is probably because most families have 2 or less children. Where there are less than 3 children, there are no middle children at all Youngest children seem to have no patterns at all with their match percentages There may be no obvious patterns for Youngest children due to family size. So they may all be “Youngest”, but they could be the youngest among 2, 3 or more siblings 21
Further questions Does age also influence our friend group? Would the results have differed if we surveyed children from other countries? Would the results have differed if we lived in a smaller place (ie. small town where everyone knows everyone else)? 22
Ways to improve my project Ways I could have improved or expanded my project: ● ● ● Consider that some people have disabilities Consider their gender Consider how to classify twins Consider that more than one person in a friend circle was surveyed, resulting in overlapping results Consider size of families 23
Real life application Over the past 100 years, many studies have tried to prove that there are stereotypical personalities due to birth order. (Eg. Youngest are risk takers, Oldest are more responsible, etc. ) This experiment shows that birth order doesn’t necessarily affect personality or choice of friends. So we can use the results to teach kids that they can be the type of people they want to be and choose friends who 24 may be like or unlike them.
Bibliography Guarino, Ben. “Birth Order May Not Shape Personality after All. ” The Washington Post, WP Company, 12 June 2019, www. washingtonpost. com/science/2019/03/14/birth-order-doesnt-shape-personalityafter-all/. Hartshorne, Joshua K. “How Birth Order Affects Your Personality. ” Scientific American, 1 Jan. 2010, www. scientificamerican. com/article/ruled-by-birth-order/. Voo, Jocelyn. “Birth Order Traits: Your Guide to Sibling Personality Differences. ” Parents, updated July 30, 2020. www. parents. com/baby/development/social/birth-order-and-personality/. 25
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