The Firstborn

The Firstborn

Famous Firstborns: ZacEfron, Beyoncé Knowles, Hillary Clinton

The firstborn is often used to being the center of attention; he has Mom and Dad to himself before siblings arrive (and oldest children enjoy about 3,000 more hours of quality time with their parents between ages 4 and 13 than the next sibling will get, found a study from Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah). "Many parents spend more time reading and explaining things to firstborns. It's not as easy when other kids come into the picture," says Frank Farley, Ph.D., a psychologist at Temple University, in Philadelphia, who has studied personality and human development for decades. "That undivided attention may have a lot to do with why firstborns tend to be overachievers," he explains. In addition to usually scoring higher on IQ tests and generally getting more education than their brothers and sisters, firstborns tend to outearn their siblings (firstborns were more likely to make at least $100,000 annually compared with their siblings, according to a recent CareerBuilder.com survey).

The Youngest

Famous Youngest Kids: Cameron Diaz, Prince Harry, Blake Lively

Lastborns generally aren't the strongest or the smartest in the room, so they develop their own ways of winning attention. They're natural charmers with an outgoing, social personality; no surprise then that many famous actors and comedians are the baby of the family (Stephen Colbert is the youngest of 11!), or that they score higher in "agreeableness" on personality tests than firstborns, according to Dr. Sulloway's research.

Youngests also make a play for the spotlight with their adventurousness. Free-spirited lastborns are more open to unconventional experiences and taking physical risks than their siblings (research has shown that they're more likely to play sports like football and soccer than their older siblings, who preferred activities like track and tennis).

The Middle Child

Famous Middle Children: Anne Hathaway, John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln, Madonna

Middleborns are go-with-the-flow types; once a younger sibling arrives, they must learn how to constantly negotiate and compromise in order to "fit in" with everyone. Not surprisingly, Dr. Sulloway notes, mid kids score higher in agreeableness than both their older and younger sibs.

Because they receive less attention at home, middletons tend to forge stronger bonds with friends and be less tethered to their family than their brothers and sisters. "They're usually the first of their siblings to take a trip with another family or to want to sleep at a friend's house," says Linda Dunlap, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Marist College, in Poughkeepsie, New York. Tracie Chuisano, a mom of three from Wilmington, North Carolina, sees these traits in her middle son: "I let him stay over at a friend's house in the second grade, even though I'd thought his older brother had been too 'young' for it."

Only child

Famous only children: Al Pacino, Anthony Hopkins, Elvis Presley,Natalie Portman.

Fifty years ago, when only children represented just 10 percent of all kids under age 18, "onlies" were often thought of as lonely, spoiled, and socially inept. But the tide has turned, and as the number of only children climbs, their place in society has risen. Today there are some 14 million only children in America, representing about 20 percent of all kids, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

A small family differs dramatically from a large one and, consequently, comes with an entirely different set of challenges and rewards.

Why a child’s position in the family influences future career choices

American psychologists have been looking into how a child’s position in the family can affect his or her selected career.

It would appear that first born and only children are more likely to be high achievers, pursuing professions such as law, finance, engineering or medicine. According to Professor Frederick Leong, co-author of the psychologists’ report, their tendency is to head towards ‘cognitive and analytical’ work. Professor Leong puts this down to the fact that parents are more likely to be more over protective towards first born or only children. Examples of famous names demonstrating this principle include Anthony Scrivener QC, Sir Winston Churchill and Sir Edward Heath.

Younger siblings, on the other hand, are more likely to be destined to take up more creatively based or outdoor based occupations, such as landscape gardening, fashion, music and art as exemplified by Oscar Wilde, Yehudi Menuhin and Madonna.

Professor Leong’s overall explanation is that, ‘Parents typically place different demands and have different expectations of children, depending on their birth order. Parents of only children may discourage pursuit of physical or outdoor activities because they are more fearful of physical harm to their child. That may be why only children are more likely to show interest in academic pursuits rather then physical or outdoor activities. And those who are only children will tend to get more time and attention from their parents than children with siblings.’

He goes on to point out how the converse tends to happen in larger families, ‘As they have more children, parents tend to become more open and relaxed, and that may allow younger children to be more risk-taking. If the first born or only child wants to be a poet, that may concern parents. But by the fourth child parents may not mind as much.’

The research was led by Ohio State University and published in the Journal of Career Assessment.