“Firstborn children can be goal-oriented, outspoken, stubborn, independent, and perfectionistic,” Smelser says, and when you look at the way firstborns are nurtured, it starts to make sense why. “These traits are often reinforced by parents through their interactions with the child,” she says.
Things You Should Know. Eldest daughter syndrome is the burden felt by oldest daughters because they're given too many adult responsibilities in their family before they're ready. Eldest daughter syndrome can make women feel overburdened, stressed out, and constantly responsible for others.
Oldest Child - “The Achiever”
As a result, firstborn children tend to be responsible, well-behaved, and possess strong leadership qualities. The oldest children are often held to a higher standard than the later-borns. They are the first of everything, and their parents are going through it for the first time, too.
Firstborn children tend to be natural leaders since they are the leaders of their sibling groups. They are often diligent, reliable, structured, goal-oriented, conscientious, and independent.
These traits of first-born children include a sense of entitlement, responsibility, and ambition. Many of the qualities of oldest child syndrome stem from taking care of younger siblings, which contribute to the development of a mature and effective leader.
For example, he quotes a study that found firstborns to be “more likely to be serious, sensitive,” “conscientious,” and “good” and—this is my favorite—“fond of books.” Later on, these firstborns can become “shy, even fearful,” or they become “self-reliant, independent.” A second child, by contrast, is “placid, easy- ...
There is an inherited pressure that the eldest daughter in any family carries with her. For most people it manifests as stress and anxiety, and in extreme cases it can become as powerful as post-traumatic stress disorder.
While this is not a psychological condition or officially recognised label, the consensus seems to be that being an eldest daughter or oldest female sibling generally equates to picking up the mental load for the family (i.e; being on top of planning any events or outings and ensuring that the household runs smoothly), ...
The first born may experience certain emotions differently than the middle and youngest child or visa versa. According to Adler, the first born is more susceptible to depression because of high expectations of parents and suddenly losing the attention due to another sibling being born.
It was believed that the youngest child was the favourite child and sometimes we can't argue with that. But listen up if you're the eldest child… A recent study has found that it's not the youngest child that's liked the most. It's actually the eldest!
The team found that birth order did not alter any of five broad personality traits. Those traits, what psychologists call the “Big Five,” were openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.
Researchers have found that 74% of mothers and 70% of fathers admit to having a favourite child - and children say there is a bias towards the eldest one.... READ MORE ABOUT: Children.
What is “Eldest Daughter Syndrome”? It's only a recently uncovered dynamic, but Dara Winley, Ph.D., LFMT, a family and couples therapist, writes that “eldest daughters experience the most pressure as their parents are trying to figure out parenting through trial and error for the first time.”
Oldest daughters are often stereotyped as being strong leaders, perfectionists, responsible, and competitive. Lisette Schuitemaker and Wies Enthoven, authors of The Eldest Daughter Effect, discuss how “Eldest daughters are responsible, dutiful, thoughtful, expeditious and caring.
While there is some evidence to suggest that firstborn daughters tend to resemble their fathers, the same cannot necessarily be said for firstborn sons. Ultimately, it's difficult to know whether this is due to a hereditary factor or something else entirely.
According to an old notion, first-born children are genetically predisposed to appear more like their father. It was thought that this was done so that the father would accept the child as his and provide for and care for them. Another argument is that this would prevent him from eating the baby.
It's easy for ambitious firstborns to become perfectionists; after all, they see adults coloring inside the lines and pouring milk without spilling. Your firstborn wants everything just so, Dr. Leman says, and they want to get things right the first time.
Your dad has more genetic influence
Now it's known that thousands of your genes express themselves according to what your dad added to the genetic pool. Did you know that you don't use an equal amount of genes from both parents? As you grow and develop throughout life, genes can be turned on and off.
From caring for younger siblings, helping out with everyday chores and looking after sick parents, to sorting shopping orders or online deliveries, eldest daughters often shoulder a heavy but invisible burden of domestic responsibility from a young age.
Glass children are said to be the siblings of kids who had/have disabilities. They are called glass children not because they are fragile or easily shatter, but because care-givers tend to see straight through them and neglect their needs more because they have to be so focused on the child who has a disability.
The most obvious reason I'm harder on my oldest child is because he's, well, older. At 6 and 9 years old, the significance of their age gap is shrinking enough that they enjoy the same things, they misbehave in the same way, and they get on each other's nerves and fight in the same way.
They are also more likely to have higher academic abilities and levels of intelligence than their younger siblings. These qualities are believed to make firstborns more successful.
A subsequent body of research, building over the years in the journal Evolution & Human Behavior, has delivered results in conflict with the 1995 paper, indicating that young children resemble both parents equally. Some studies have even found that newborns tend to resemble their mothers more than their fathers.