And experts say middle children do tend to be more empathetic. As a middle child, I have multiple perspectives on sibling relationships that my older and younger siblings never had. When you're the middle child, you have an older role model to learn from or look up to, and a younger prodigy to teach.
Middle children typically have more freedom and less pressure growing up. Sometimes they can even get away with more things as a kid. This, over time, leads to them developing more independence and confidence, according to Schumann.
Middle children are the least likely to say they were a favorite child; only 20 percent believe they were. Forty-four percent of men who were youngest say they were the family favorite. Women who were middle children are least likely to believe they were a favorite child; only 17 percent report that they were.
Middle children are unfairly stereotyped as apprehensive underachievers who suffer from parental neglect, but research shows that they're actually quite ambitious: Many middle children grow up to be the most successful members of their families, and several have gone onto become some of the most accomplished people in ...
Middleborns are just as smart as their siblings.
But a study by the University of Illinois published earlier this year found that firstborns' IQs are only one point higher, on average, than their younger siblings — a fairly negligible difference.
The University of Edinburgh study reported that the oldest child tends to have a higher IQ and thinking skills than their younger siblings. This is due to higher mental stimulation the first-born receives, CBS affiliate KUTV reports.
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.
Middle children are good at compromise (they have had to learn to be) and usually end up with someone most like them, but can really pair well with anyone. Middle children tend to be more satisfied with marriage in general, but they seem to pair best with spouses who are the youngest in their family.
Researchers have found a correlation between risk-taking and being the last-born sibling.
The middle child
Stereotype: Social butterfly, peacekeeper, fairness-obsessed. Why it's true: “Middle-borns don't have the rights of the oldest or the privileges of the youngest,” says Catherine Salmon, Ph. D., a coauthor of The Secret Power of Middle Children.
No matter the situation, we're used to things not going our way. Therefore, the middle child is a resilient beast. We don't crumble under pressure (like the baby of the family), nor are we prone to getting a big head (like our older siblings). We're just strong and grounded AF.
According to Katrin Schumann, co-author of The Secret Power of Middle Children, a marital happiness survey revealed that middle children are the happiest and most satisfied in relationships.
First-born kids tend to be leaders, like CEOS and founders, and are more likely to achieve traditional success. Middle-born children often embody a mix of the traits of older and younger siblings, and they're very relationship-focused.
An article in the December issue of the National Bureau of Economics Research Reporter argues that firstborn children are likely to become smarter, more successful, and richer than their siblings.
The research also revealed that older siblings are the most competitive, but also the most successful, with sisters being more competitive than brothers. Holiday destinations, parenting skills, and who drives the best car are also among the areas that bring out competitiveness among siblings.
The order you were born can have an impact on how successful you are in life, according to Sandra Black, an economics professor at the University of Texas at Austin. In her research, Black has found that first-born children tend to do better than their younger siblings when it comes to education and earnings.
Middle siblings may not wind up as the corporate chiefs or the comedians, but whatever they do, they're likely to do it more collegially and agreeably—and, as a result, more successfully—than other siblings. Your birth order may be immutable, but the talents and traits it leaves you with don't have to be.
"The stereotypical middle child is more sensitive, more distant from the family, even when they get along well, and often finds a path that's very different from the others, so they have a defined sense of self," says Dr. Daramus.
Middle children are less likely to be Introverts (-5.74%) and more likely to be Extraverts (+5.39%). Youngest children are very slightly more likely to be Introverts (+1.13%) than they are Extraverts (-1.07%).
As the middle child, you're cooperative, independent, and empathetic. At the same time, you can be quite rebellious, doing things not expected of you. Dating you is like being dealt a wild card — it's hard to predict how the ride will turn out to be.
Younger siblings may be especially vulnerable to trauma because they are in an earlier developmental stage than the rest of the family. While older siblings and parents will be much more equipped to cope with the stress, the youngest child may feel left behind or not understand how to handle their emotions.
What Is Middle-Child Syndrome? Many experts who study personality believe that your family's birth order plays a role in your development. They see "middle-child syndrome" as the idea that if you're neither the oldest child nor the youngest, you get less attention from your parents and feel “caught in the middle”.
Many previous studies looked into this relationship. There is evidence that the first born children experience more stress than their younger siblings. Weiss (1970), conducted a study to assess the relation between birth order and anxiety.