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  • The fact that your personality can be affected by being the oldest sibling, middle child, youngest sibling, or an only child has been studied for years.

  • Thousands of these psychological studies have been done over many years and recent meta-analysis has come up with some recurring themes and ideas.

  • So we're gonna talk to you about them today.

  • And we're gonna discuss whether birth order can affect your personality.

  • Well, whawhat are you?

  • I'm the youngest child.

  • And I'm the middle child.

  • First-borns were seen to possess more of these types of qualities.

  • One, higher academic achievements and ambition.

  • Hi, sir. 92 percent?

  • How the H-E-double hockey sticks (hell) am I supposed to become prime minister with this?

  • Two, a stronger sense of responsibility and maturity.

  • Oh, where's my wallet?

  • - You know how I never lose my wallet? - I know you're so responsible and mature.

  • We all get it!

  • And number three, better leadership skills than other birth orders.

  • First-born children tend to get a lot more attention and affection from their parents because, I mean, it's their first kid, why not?

  • But, at the same time, there is also way higher expectations for them than their following siblings.

  • The theory behind this is that it's sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

  • If there is higher expectations placed on you, then you're more likely to work harder and want to live up to those expectations.

  • Similarly, if someone thinks you're supposed to be the responsible one, you're more likely to take on that role.

  • Middle-born children were seen to express more of these types of qualities.

  • One, cooperative.

  • Mitchell, put that down.

  • Sorry.

  • Two, flexible and sociable.

  • Don't, man, don't worry about it; it's not a problem at all.

  • You know, dirt off my shoulder, there's no "i" in "team", I got your back, I'm your bro for life!

  • Three, able to make and maintain friendships easily.

  • You're my best friend.

  • You've been with me through thick and thin, and I appreciate everything you've done for me.

  • Being the proverbial monkey in the middle, these children don't have the high expectations of the first-born child nor the leniency of the last-born child.

  • As a result, they tend to be less ambitious and competitive than their predecessors and have a more relaxed attitude towards life.

  • The middle child is often a social butterfly.

  • Because they receive less attention than their other siblings, they seek out more relationships and friendships outside of their family.

  • The last-born child or the youngest of the group tends to have these traits.

  • One, they're charming and likable.

  • How many Instagram followers do you have?

  • I have, like, 250.

  • I have 28.3 million; I just passed Kim K, and I actually broke Snapchat with my widdle baby selfie.

  • Two, they're possibly more creative than their older siblings.

  • What [are] you doing?

  • I don't know, it's not very good, just doodling.

  • You drew that?

  • Three, they have a strong sense of security and confidence.

  • c-o-n-f-i-d-e-n-t, that's me.

  • I'm confident.

  • I wanna see you be brave.

  • I might be too strung out on compliments.

  • Overdosed on confidence.

  • And number four, they're generally less responsible and mature than older siblings.

  • I forgot my phone, wallet, keys, and your shoes.

  • Oh, my God, what?

  • This is often a case of "been there, done that".

  • As the parents have already had a bunch of kids, so their leniency is a lot higher and their expectations are much lower.

  • However, being younger in the birth order often leads to a different sense of responsibility and often feeling like others will take the lead.

  • Lone children are seen to have more of these traits.

  • Academically able, creative, and resourceful.

  • Well, actually, according to my research, the correct answer is...

  • Actually, it's a lot deeper than that.

  • You see, the informa

  • You can have that opinion, but the honest truth is that you're just not really understanding what's going on.

  • Mature and responsible.

  • Good thing I remembered your keys, phone, wallet, and my shoes.

  • But they also tend to hate disorder and like to be in control.

  • - Ooh, can I see? - Hey, cut it out! It's my phone, not yours.

  • Hey, there, bud, do you want a beer?

  • Oh, actually, I don't drink. Thanks .

  • Wanna try putting on make-up for the first time?

  • I've never done that before; I don't want to.

  • Being an only child, the expectations are always high.

  • But unlike the first-born, you never need to fight for your parents' attention.

  • As a result, there's more potential to thrive in every sense of the word because your parents' attention is undivided.

  • And growing up in a household of only adults would lead the child to emulate the specific actions of the parents.

  • Leading to more responsibility and maturity and also a very structured environment.

  • Seeing as they have never had to compromise with their siblings and deal with the fact that there's always a lot of chaos in life,

  • they sometimes have trouble relating to their peers and also feel very out of control when things in their life don't go their way.

  • Now, of course, this is all super interesting, but there are a lot of extraneous variables from gender to socioeconomic status to age gap between siblings and how many siblings there are.

  • But these are just some of the theories out there and it'll be interesting to see how they pertain to you. Do they?

  • The theories do kind of pertain to me.

  • I'm very irresponsible and way less mature than my older sister.

  • Um, I guess I am more creative and definitely more, like, outgoing than her.

  • So, that's sort of, uh, youngest child, sort of does relate to me in some sense.

  • And I'd say, for me, I said I'm a middle child, but I also was a youngest child for about seven years, so I feel like some of the traits match up for me.

  • But it might be a little confused 'cause then maybe when I had my younger brother I felt even like an older sibling or a first sibling.

  • I don't know what I am, I...

  • - I relate to some and not to others. Yeah. - Yeah! You're kind of a smorgasbord of all of them, so... that's kind of tough.

  • These supposed effects, though widely studied, have been mostly inconclusive in psychology.

  • So, though some aspects may be true for you, which makes a lot of sense, it wouldn't be the same for every single person around the world in a specific birth order.

  • At the end of the day, it's important to remember that your personality and your destiny in life is not predetermined at birth.

  • Thanks for watching this week's video.

  • Let us know in the comments if any of these theories actually pertain to you and your birth order.

  • Make sure to subscribe, follow us both on Instagram and Twitter, and we'll see you on Saturday for the vlog.

  • -Peace. - Peace!

The fact that your personality can be affected by being the oldest sibling, middle child, youngest sibling, or an only child has been studied for years.

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