The words above are just a few adjectives used to describe first-born children. An ever growing amount of research claims that your birth order can affect your life, personality traits, professional achievements, and personal relationships. As the oldest child in my family, I can’t help but boast my birth order when being first-born is seen as so favorable but I also can’t help but wonder what the concepts we’ve covered in class would say about these claims.
John Locke would argue that we are all born with a blank slate and the experiences we have growing up and the effects of the treatment we receive from our parents decide our behaviors. In effect, every child in a family is just as malleable as the next, and our environment shapes who we become.
Nevertheless, neuroscience once again challenges the blank slate idea. The fraternal birth order effect theory of homosexuality establishes that there is a 33% increase in the probability of homosexuality in a male child with each older male sibling. In short, the theory claims that changes induced in the mother’s womb when gestating a boy affects subsequent sons. Furthermore, the American Thoracic Society recently published that the order of birth has a significant impact on the long-term strength of a child's allergic defenses.
Convincing arguments on both sides of the spectrum make it difficult for me to decide on exactly the reasons for my subscription to the birth order hypotheses. In this case, I tend to side more the Steven Pinker. His hybrid explanation that correlates genes and environment with behavior makes the most sense to me. However, your experiences and conformity or non-conformity with the different birth order descriptions may lead you to a very different conclusion.
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Your post got me thinking since I'm a first-born child as well. I've never really considered how that aspect of my identity and upbringing could impact me--or how any of the "expectations" people have for oldest children apply to me. I find it interesting because at times, it almost seems like my parents have higher expectations for my younger brother than for me, but it could just be that they make him "prove himself" more whereas I was generally given more trust and freedom. Not to say that my parents have any kind of favoritism, the difference is subtle, but I do notice it. I'm also curious abou the possible connection you mentioned between birth order and allergies, since that would apply to me as well? Anyway, I'm also considering how you applied the viewpoints of Pinker and Locke to your thoughts. It seems like several of the posts so far (including mine) have been related to family and upbringing, a setting where the division between environmental and biological influences becomes very blurry, making it hard to determine which theory to side with (if we have to choose sides at all!).
ReplyDeleteThis post was really interesting to me because of the way things have worked out between my twin sister and I. We were the first children born to our parents, but have grown up to be extremely different. We have always shouldered the same expectations, but I have become more assertive and performed better academically (first child characteristics?), while my sister is much more artistic and expressive. This would seem to point to biology as being the determinant of certain characteristics ala Pinker. But who knows. Also, my sister is the only one with allergies. Weird.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. It is encouraging to hear other first-borns have had similar experiences to mine.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the allergies, research suggests that first-born children are at higher risk of developing asthma and allergies because of different conditions they experience in the uterus. The full article about the claim can be found here: http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/540662/?sc=sphr