Birth order may influence a child’s skills. First-borns are more likely to become leaders

Birth order exerts an influence on the skills developed during childhood with first-borns being much more likely to become leader than younger siblings.

Psychologists have long been wondering on how personalities can differ so much even among children coming from the same families and while popular culture always underlined the elder brother’s role in protecting his siblings, a new study suggests that first-borns are indeed more likely to become leaders by developing specific skill sets and a certain type of personality.

And psychologists are not the only ones wondering about how birth order impacts personality. Economists are also keen on finding out the circumstances that create specific skill sets. A recent Swedish study from the Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy looked at males and found that indeed birth order not only played a part in how their personalities were formed but also influenced their career options.

According to the study, first borne males are much more likely to develop important leadership skills. They are also much more likely than their younger siblings to accept responsibilities; they are much more emotionally stable, persistent and socially outgoing.

Birth order, the Swedish study finds, also has a great impact on careers. First-borns are almost 30 percent more likely to be top managers compared with third-borns and are more likely to be employed in occupations requiring all Big Five domains of personality — openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability. Later-born children are more likely to be self-employed.

The differences birth order differences could be explained by a variety of factors from biological to environmental. Scientist found that biological factors actually favor later-borns while parents’ behavior could be considered in favor of the older sons.

The study underlines that parents tend to be stricter with first-borns in order to project an image on toughness and they are less strict with later born children.

Also, the study found that while teenagers, first-borns are much more likely to read while younger siblings are more likely to watch television and do less homework.

And sibling dynamics could also play a role in the development of personality traits. The study found that the differences were grater when the first-borns were boys as compared to girls. So having older brothers could negatively impact younger siblings.

Scientists consider that there is a need for further investigation in order to precisely determine what are the mechanisms behind birth order impacting personality traits.

Such research could also help with parenting techniques especially as the study found evidence of lower parental human capital investments in later-born children.