While typical “middle child syndrome” depicts children who are in the middle arrangement as neglected by parents, which causes youngsters psychological problems, studies have revealed that children in the middle arrangement are more independent, adventurous, and cooperative than their older and younger siblings.
According to a professor of psychology at the University of California, Redlands, Catherine Salmon, co-author of "The Secret Power of Middle Children," what is portrayed is that the middle child is a substandard person with fewer social skills and that he is harmed by being less interested in compared to his siblings, which is incorrect. On the contrary, he can often develop the skills that his siblings do not perform due to the circumstances of the birth arrangement.
Birth order and intelligence
Numerous recent studies indicate that the order of birth has nothing to do with the development of personality, contrary to the popular belief that older children are more responsible, more dominant and interested in pleasing parents, while children born after them are more rebellious.
A study by researchers from the University of Leipzig and the University of Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany, in 2015 found these ideas refuted.
The researchers studied more than 20,000 adults from the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Germany, to compare siblings within the same family, and people in the same birth order within different families.
"We have not found the effects of birth order on emotional stability, contentment, conscience, or imagination," the researchers said.
Another study, "The Impact of Birth Order on Personality and Intelligence in a Representative Sample of American High School Students", conducted by researchers from the University of Illinois in 2015, examined a sample of 377,000 students, to test the connections between birth order, personality, and intelligence, and they also found little evidence Very on the differences in personality.
The idea that birth order affects the development of personality traits and intelligence is mainly due to the discussion that took place between Austrian psychologists Sigmund Freud and his colleague Alfred Adler. Adler has argued that children of first or last order are constantly struggling for success and supremacy, while middle children are healthier and more permissive in life; However, Freud disagreed with him.
The strength of the middle child
Middle child syndrome: Salmon says on Business Insider, "In addition to that there is no strong evidence that the middle child syndrome is real, the reality has changed and the image of the middle child is no longer bleak when the older brother gets all the praise and the younger sister gets all the attention. This is due Partly due to the different family dynamics from before, and also because the child’s personality is affected by several other factors in addition to his birth arrangement among his siblings.
Disaffection of the middle child : And Salmon emphasizes that the middle child may suffer from a lack of attention, but that does not make him upset, and the evidence for that was the case before for previous generations with large numbers of children. They could not focus their attention on every child, and this was not harmful to children, "the idea that people are affected easily by not being the center of the universe has no evidence."
The middle child may be affected, but he will not remain stuck in the bitterness that results from the fact that he does not receive full attention like the rest of his siblings for life, things may be difficult at first, but he will not live this role for the rest of his life.
High expectations for success for the first child: Salmon says, "Parents often have a clear set of expectations for the first child that makes them focus with him, while the other children leave to practice their lives without close follow-up, and some think that this reduces their achievement and this is not true, as having freedom Choosing their own path in life can lead to a successful career, different from parents and siblings.
Being in the middle arrangement can allow children to develop skills that others do not have to practice until later in their lives, such as the ability to negotiate between siblings, know what others want, independence, and try new things. This creates people willing to do things outside the box, for example, Bill Gates.
Stronger ties with siblings and friends: According to the study conducted by Salmon, the older and younger child will go to their parents if they need help, while the middle child chooses the siblings to go to them and seek advice from them.
Salmon believes that the middle child is more independent and recognizes things alone by watching others, as he is not subject to excessive supervision by his parents, which sometimes prevents children from developing the independence they need to depend on themselves.
Peace Maker: The middle child is often helpful and understanding, but he is also interested in achieving justice, because being in the middle requires him to share everything with another person from birth. This experience eventually translates into a distinct negotiating ability.
He is fluent in skills such as following the idea of compromise and being able to read people around him, and this makes him a candidate for senior positions. In her study, Salmon found that 52% of American presidents since 1787 were middle-aged children, such as Jefferson, Lincoln, and Kennedy.