Alfred Adler said that birth order has effects on various facets of a human being’s life.
Adler’s theory of birth order defines the concept of birth order as a psychological position rather than an ordinal one. These effects of birth order includes in self esteem, leadership capability, personality, and academic achievement.The effect on the academic achievements of birth order though has no substantiating proof that proves the theory of Adler. The birth order started the study of Sir Francis Galton entitled English Men of Science in 1874. The said study indicated that eldest siblings attain higher educational level than the other siblings.Then in 1920 Alfred Adler explored the association of birth order to gender, personality, and family size.
Over the years, various studies and researches has been done that focuses on the verification of Adler’s theory of birth order. The association of birth order and personality characteristics has long been established so the focus now shifted to intelligence.The topic is a subject of continuous debate in the present time despite various studies that were done about it. Other studies do not support the relationship of birth order and to academic achievement. The intensive research on the influence of birth order to intelligence in children has no substantial evidence despite the enormous number of people that did studies on it.
Adler’s Theory of Birth Order and its Effect on Academic AchievementAlfred Adler, a theorist from Venice, said that birth order has effects on various facets of a human being’s life. These effects of birth order includes in self esteem, leadership capability, personality, and academic achievement. The effect on the academic achievements of birth order though has no substantiating proof that proves the theory of Adler.Birth order is defined as: an ordinal position which pertains to the actual chronology of birth in siblings; and as a psychological position which pertains to the role the individual assumes in his or her dealings with other people.
Adler’s theory of birth order defines the concept of birth order as a psychological position rather than an ordinal one. The theory indicates that a child whom is born more than five years from the previous child will assume the eldest child characteristics.Psychological roles within siblings is also affected by disabilities like Down syndrome for this conditions alters the mental capabilities of the individual as well as the role it plays in the birth order of siblings(Wintle, 2002).According to Adlerian theory, the organization of birth of children in the family affects the behavior and characteristics of individuals. The personality of children developed with the effects of the parental treatment that is based on the birth chronology of children.Categories in Adlerian birth order theory are: eldest, middle, youngest, and only child(Eckstein, 2000).
The first born person is said to be the achiever in academics when compared to the middle child and the last born. The high academic achievement of the first born child is an attempt to establish authority and power(Parker, 1998).Eldest children are also said to be with highest IQ, fewest academic problems, soaring achievement need and motivation, most affinitive under stress, and in learned groups tend to be overrepresented(Eckstein, 2000). The eldest sibling is categorized as the most likely to achieve greater endeavors in like due to the continuous search for challenges.The middle child is said to be the person who strive hard to surpass and attain superiority over the first born thus they are considered ambitious and competitive. They tend to have better coping up with the situation than either the eldest or the youngest sibling.
These individuals also are thought to be rebellious thinking and more connected to friends than his or her family.The youngest is the sibling that has a casual lifestyle and has the greatest tendency to experience inferiority. They are risk takers because they have the greater tendencies of enduring risks(Kluger 2007). Adler believes that the differences in the characteristics among siblings are in line with the struggle for power and authority.The birth order started the study of Sir Francis Galton entitled English Men of Science in 1874.
The said study indicated that eldest siblings attain higher educational level than the other siblings. Then in 1920 Alfred Adler explored the association of birth order to gender, personality, and family size. Then the various researches were done by enormous people about the topic after the theory was established by Adler.
