The Most Difficult Sibling, According To Research
Are you the most difficult sibling in the family?
Chanintorn.v / Shutterstock We all know someone like this: always seems to be in trouble, always says the wrong thing, and never shows respect to anybody or anything. They always have to have the last word, even if it is pointless, which usually ends up with them in detention.
It was admirable when you were younger, but now it's just worrisome, and a tad old.
That person you know might very well be a part of your family. In fact, there is a high probability that the person is a specific one of your siblings.
In a study done by MIT, economist Joseph Doyle surveyed thousands of families in Florida and Denmark and found that second-born children — particularly second-born sons — end up being the most troublesome.
And they are not just the most difficult in their own family but in society as well.
The study found that second-born sons were 20-40 percent more likely to have behavioral issues in school and have to be disciplined, and eventually end up in the criminal justice system.
Maybe this can account for the obsession with bad boys in the books we liked in middle and high school, where there was the golden big brother and the rebellious younger brother who we all fawned over — or at least I did.
The reasoning for this? The lack of attention given to them by their parents.
Maybe the world would be a better place if we gave all second-born children one long hug.
There's also a theory by Alfred Adler that describes the personality traits of the oldest, middle, and youngest children.
The middle born is most likely to have trouble fitting in due to being sandwiched between the overachiever of the firstborn and the spoiled baby of the youngest.
Another 2013 study found that middle-born children were 33% more likely to be considered delinquent compared to their older siblings.
I can say with absolute certainty that this is true.
I was the oldest golden child of my family, only ever skipping important things to go back home and try to revive my dying plants.
The only thing I got yelled at in school for was reading while the teacher was talking, ironically it was reading class. Meanwhile, my younger sister was dodging deans in high school left and right so she could skip class and go to McDonald's with some random people from math class.
Do you believe any of this to be true? Is your second-born the most difficult to raise, or do you find yourself always running from the law because your parents didn't pay enough attention to you?
Isabel Steger is a writer and assistant editor at YourTango.