Does Birth Order Matter?

Posted May 5, 2008, 1:49 pm in Family by Growing Bolder


It may be truer than Dick Smothers ever realized – mom really did love Tommy best!  But she also probably also held him to a higher standard when it came to chores, homework and more.  A study recently published in the Economic Journal finds that first-born kids have a harder time than their younger siblings; that the oldest child is treated more strictly by his or her parents.

One of the professors that co-authored the study tells MSNBC that in many cases, parents are hard on their first-born children to let the other kids know what their expectations are for behavior – so they don't appear to be pushovers.

While this can be rough on the oldest child, who may see the parenting as favoritism or even hypocritical, the study finds that oldest siblings are much less likely to drop out of school or get pregnant than the younger kids.  The younger siblings, on the other hand, tend to take more risks – and have a higher drop-out rate, and are more likely to take financial support from their parents.

For the study, click here.

So what do you think?  Leave comments below.

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