A new study suggests that middle children are more honest, humble, and cooperative than their siblings.
Fact checked by Sarah Scott
, there’s a belief that the order in which siblings are born can have an impact on how they behave.
The idea has been explored by various studies, some finding that firstborns tend to have higher intellectual traits than their younger siblings.
Now, a recent study highlights an unexpected correlation between birth order and personality, uncovering that middle children are more honest, humble, and agreeable than their siblings.
So, Are Middle Children Better Than Their Siblings?
scored higher for honesty/humility and agreeableness. But what does that mean?
According to the HEXACO Personality Inventory, agreeableness is defined as people who “forgive the wrongs that they suffered, are lenient in judging others, are willing to compromise and cooperate with others, and can easily control their temper.” While scoring high for honestly/humility can mean the person avoids manipulation for personal gain and is a rule follower, with little interest in luxury or an elevated social status.
scored higher, suggesting that this group is also highly agreeable and humble. The authors of the study, Michael Ashton and Kibeom Lee, suggest that this could be due to the capacity for cooperation children in larger families have, which may negate tendencies to act selfishly.
There’s Still More Research Needed
Ultimately, there’s still more research needed to determine whether or not birth order has a definitive impact on personality. Conflicting studies conducted in 2019 and in 2020 further complicate the findings. The 2020 study suggests that only children are not inherently more narcissistic than children with multiple siblings. While the 2019 study found that personality differences between adults with siblings and those without are incredibly minuscule.
in determining how kind, diligent, organized, or spoiled a person is, research has yet to strongly support it. So oldest and youngest siblings can rejoice in the fact that the likelihood that your middle sibling is actually better person than you is relatively small (which you probably already knew).
