Because they’re often raised with less strict guidelines than firstborns, this translates to a need to be creative in how you attract parental attention. The middle child’s negotiation skills stem from their people-pleasing characteristics. Less of a perfectionist than their eldest sibling. What are the personality traits of the middle child?Īccording to this theory, you’ll find affected individuals show particular personality traits.įriendship-oriented instead of family-oriented. Additional studies are needed, so it’s better to consider birth order as one factor in intrafamily dynamics, but not the only one. Many external factors can shape a person’s personality, self-esteem, or mental health. Studies have been completed too that seem to disprove some famous anecdotes of middle child theory, specifically, the idea that they’re less family-oriented. This unequal attention could be everyday behaviors, like offering one child study snacks during a challenging study period before an exam, or could occur during significant life events, like giving financial support to the youngest child but not their older sibling.Ĭurrently, there’s a lot of anecdotal info pointing toward ingrained middle child personality quirks, especially when you contrast those quirks against common trends with younger siblings or the eldest. He found that second children were affected by this because of a lack of attention from their parental figures. In the early 1900s, Adler hypothesized that common characteristics arose in children because of their birth order. However, humans are complex beings, and science hasn’t solved all the questions.īirth order theory started with the 20th-century Austrian psychiatrist Alfred Adler’s approach to childhood development. Many studies have been conducted on birth order psychology since it was introduced in the first half of the 20th century. Juliane Liebermann - Is middle child syndrome a real thing? Less inclination for “family orientation” than the oldest child. Some “common” traits of a middle child syndrome include:Ī feeling of being caught in the middle (no pun intended).Ī general preoccupation with receiving less parental attention.Ī potentially distant relationship with your parents, especially on personal topics or concerns. Some of those traits become quite negative. Because of this, they develop a set of specific personality traits that follow them into adulthood. This syndrome is the idea that middle-borns are inadvertently given less attention than older siblings, younger siblings, or only children by their parents. If you’re scratching your head over the terminology, here are the characteristics of middle child syndrome and what it means for your family. You’ve probably heard about “middle child syndrome” and how it can affect this dynamic, but what exactly is the middle child theory? If you grew up with siblings, you know how difficult it is to compete with your brother or sister for parental attention.įacing the competing obligations of school, work, household repairs, family vacations, and chores, you’ve more than likely felt the burn of accidental neglect - especially if you’re the middle child.
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