According to a recent study carried out in the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany, in which 20,000 people participated, there is a relationship between some personality traits and health and the order in which you were born.
The results of the research seem to show that the most classic stereotypes regarding older and younger siblings are not as linear as we think. For example, the smallest were not shown to be the most disruptive or the largest to be the most rule-following.
However, according to the survey, there are some impressive relationships when it comes to intelligence, health and sexuality.
The biggest, smartest
The older brother or sister, apparently, always tends to be smarter than the little ones. They have better abilities to understand complex problems or abstract ideas, and they also have a better and more complete vocabulary.
Scientists still don’t have a definitive answer about what causes this pattern, though they assume it’s a matter of status.
In other words, the place that the older brother or sister occupies within the family is what determines that they develop greater intelligence than their siblings. It would not be, then, a biological question.
The youngest: healthier and with a tendency to express their sexuality freely
For their part, the younger brothers also have some traits in common. The main one is that they tend to be healthier than older people.
In part, this can be explained because they develop their immune system more, due to older siblings catching diseases and returning home.
Although at first it may seem like a bad thing, being more exposed to different types of diseases and from an early age, younger siblings end up becoming stronger and immune to certain diseases.
Changes in the mother’s uterus after the first pregnancy can also influence this characteristic.
Finally, and although it sounds striking, younger siblings are more prone to homosexuality than older ones, especially in boys. The causes are not very well explained, but the relationship is quite strong. It can also be, in truth, that minors feel freer to express their sexuality.
Although the study was very large and complete, it is the second to be carried out in this line, therefore, much remains to be known and precise conclusions cannot be drawn.
Traits like intelligence and sexuality are determined by a number of interconnected factors, and cannot be completely reduced to birth order.
But it is true that there are some tendencies, which will have to be investigated further.
Sources:
BBC
ABC