The Sibling Most Likely To Cause Drama In The Family, According To Research
The sibling who often stirs up the most conflict at family gatherings.
Monstera Production | Pexels We all know someone like this: someone who always seems to be in cause drama in the family, always says the wrong thing in public, and never shows respect to anybody or anything anywhere at anytime. They always have to get in the last word on a discussion or disagreement, even if it is pointless, which usually ends up with them in trouble of some kind.
For some, this behavior was admirable when they were younger as a sign of a strong personality in development, but now, as an adult, it's just worrisome and a tad old. This person might very well be a part of your family. There is a high probability that the person is one of your siblings, and it most likely is not your oldest sibling.
A study done by MIT found that second-born children, particularly second-born sons, are the most likely to cause drama.
Economist Joseph Doyle surveyed thousands of families in Florida and Denmark and found that second-born children are not just the most difficult in their own family, but in society as well.
After differences in health at birth and the quality of schools chosen for children, the study done by Doyle found that despite large differences in environments across the two areas, 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.
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The reasoning for second-born children tending to cause drama? The lack of attention given to them by their parents.
As the study showed how parental time investment is higher for first-borns at ages 2-4 and suggested that the arrival of a second-born child extends early-childhood parental investments for first-borns.
Maybe the world would be a better place if we gave all second-born children one long hug. There's also a theory by Austrian physician Alfred Adler that describes the personality traits of the oldest, middle, and youngest children.
According to Adler, the middleborn 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 study found that middleborn children were more likely to engage in problematic behavior.
According to the 2013 study, "33 percent more likely than firstborns to engage in problem behavior, and lastborn children were 20 percent more likely than firstborns to engage in problem behavior."
I can say with absolute certainty 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 YourTango's assistant editor. She has her Bachelor’s Degree in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago and over 2 years of experience as an editor covering relationships, parenting, and human interest topics.
