Why are the first borns more likely to succeed?

I read many articles and noticed that GENERALLY, the first born children of every family is more prone to succeed than children born after them. they score better on standardized tests, have higher IQs, and have generally get more rewarding careers with better payoffs. I'm really curious as to why that is. Thoughts anyone?

 

then bushels saying that the first children are those that succeed better in everything??

 

First comes first severs as they say, but I don't this it's always true, I think it's all to do with how well the child wants to succeed, I don't think it has anything to do with when someone is born, e.g

In the Royal family say the first two children are girls but then a boy is born, due to that fact the boy will be the one who will succeed in becoming the next ruling and then his eldest sister, so it has nothing to do when your born, it's how you're raised or how well you really want to be in life, some people in one family may work hard to succeed while others in the same family are just too lazy to even try.

Also in a few TV shows I've seen like My Family, the eldest son Nick, is a lazy naive guy who will get no where in life, his only sister Janie is smarter then me and knows what she wants, while their baby brother Michael has more brains then his brother and sister but together.

So all in all, what order siblings are born in doesn't really to with how well they will succeed.

 

really, EvilMan_89, now that do it to me to notice, I am the first child and I have 2 brothers and the things (some in everything) are all right me....

 

Actually, being a first born, I would have to say that it's because we have more responsibility than the others do, and also get shafted more. We are pushed to watch over our siblings, learn to try to settle disputes better, and well, my parents just were on me for nearly anything. Also, parents tend to get more income and better situations as the first kid grows so that kid is often kind of left out of things like getting the 'coolest' stuff because the birth is often not so planned for and parents also need their time of adjustment so the first kid is the 'trial' kid. The others also don't have to work as hard at some things as the first child does and I remember being more or less raised to watch after them and I had to babysit them from age 13, which sucked. Them arguing with me over that really taught me tolerance though. I remember not getting an allowance until I was 12 and by then I was already mowing other people's lawns and such and at 13 took up a paper route to make money while my siblings (3 others) could sit around a lot more and none of them had to get work until they were out of school, while I had a solid part time job at 16.

So, I think the expectations are just there for an older sibling to push him/herself, watch over the younger siblings so they don't get 'picked on' as much as the older one would with no real protection, and they had to deal with less of a stable world as parents adjust to that new life of having the first kid. Dealing with it all I think motivates the first child -if- the child cares about it all. There are some people that were 'first children' that rebelled utterly from what their parents rather tossed on them too, so I can't say it always holds true but there just does most of the time seem more of a drive to get the first kid moving upward and growing up faster than the others because parents need help with the other siblings and duties around the house and it just gets put on the oldest kid more often. As someone pointed out above, sometimes the oldest sibling can turn out to be the lazy bum too so it depends on how much responsibility parents do put on the oldest and also if the oldest child is willing to actually do what is demanded of them. If they aren't, generally the duties fall to others because the first child is not doing an adequate job and if they want it done, they must turn to others.

There are also reports that the middle children often feel more isolated and the youngest children are babied more often, which I think in my family held true to some degree as well. It is an interesting query to think about.

 

>.> I can vouch for that


I am a middle born. In my family I was the first to stay on after high school, I am the first to go to University. My older sister had it really easy when she was kid, mostly because she was a ****ing brat and out my mom through hell >.> so the responsibility fell down to me xD

I was under more pressure to get a job, and I watch out for both of my sisters.

xD I am the middle born but I am doing better than the eldest in our family.

The order you are born in doesnt really have an impact. It varies family to family.

Though the youngest do tend to be ore spoilt regardless xD​

 

That's total bull >=\

If I'm supposed to believe that my jack-hole, ingrate of a "brother" is going to have a more succesful life than me, then hang me now because there is no way in hell that that's going to happen.

I swear, if in my late 20s or so, I wake up and realize that my brother has a better life than me, I'll jump off my roof right then.

I really don't want to get into details, but let's just say it's the least likely thing to ever happen.

 

Technically that's not true. My younger bro is already smarter than me somehow cause he's a 7th grader and is in Algebra and I'm a Freshmen and I have Geometry. What do you call that?! The article is already busted. But I guess there are times when there are some kids that are like that. Maybe it's their first time to see the world earlier and then again most of the brain from teh parents would mostly pass onto first borns. That is my theory.

 

Completely true.I'm always babied by my parents :/

I have two older brothers.One's 21 and the other is 18.The 22 year old has a big responsibility in my family.When my parents aren't home, he can't go out with his friends and has to stay home to take care of me and my other brother.My parents are always bothering him to get a job ever since he quit his last one.He is going to college.My other brother(18 year old) he is is pretty intelligent but he hasn't been getting good grades like before.And as for me,pretty much my aunt is the one that thinks I will be the one that will be more successful than my brothers.I don't know why though.I do get good grades,like A's and B's and one or two C's but I don't think I'll be more succesful than my brothers.My parents and the rest of my family want ALL three of us to be successful.My mom is always bothering me to become a doctor or something.A career that will give you a pretty good pay.But I always reject those because I want to become a Zoologist.So pretty much I think the onyl reason why the first born might become more successful than the others because they have a higher responsibility than the younger siblings.

 

huh, i have no idea what you are saying

i think that too

yea i guess it would vary, but so many articles and so many families have the oldest one as the most sucessful which made me wonder why it's the 1st ones

 

Not true... I am the youngest child in my family, yet, I have higher tests scores than both of my sisters and am already working towards a promising career... >>

 

i'm one of the only one out of my friends who doesn't have an older brother/sister and they already have their older siblings as reputation while me (being the oldest) has to make my own.
Parents also automatically think that i need to pushed because i'm smart and stuff like that and they're telling my brother to get into stuff that i do (like ps2, reading books, drawing, etc) but instead he just watches me and has an extremely low confidence and self esteem because everything i do is 'better' than what he can (even though he totally ignores the fact that i'm in year 8 and he's a 3rd grader)

 

Most likely because the oldest is much more independent and realizes that there's not much to look up to in the household (people wise), whereas a youngun will have an older brother or sister to look up to and to make similarities of him or herself comparatively to the older sibling. That is my case, however. I can't say all are like that. I have two older brothers (and me being the youngest).

Another reason might be observation and experience. Being an older one, sometimes that individual might really try new things head on. And so because of that, they can really know how the game really plays. *shrugs* But that's just a theory on it. I'm not the oldest so what do I know. lawl


However in my case, I don't COMPLETELY rely on that observation. I'm younger than my brother but my school grades are higher. That honestly does not mean anything to me however, because my bro is very intelligent and in a world that wouldn't require an education he would be on top of his game. I know that we'll both be successful and it won't matter who came first.

 

I've been called "Kelly's Sister" throughout my life ("Kelly" being my older sister), so it's nothing new to me. But I don't agree with the part about the first born being the smartest. I have a higher grade average than my sister has.

 

I don't really put much stock in this theory. To me it doesn't matter if you're first born, middle born, or the baby in the family. Each person has their own ambitions and their goal in life. It doesn't matter birth order but the person's personality...which I suppose could be influenced by their childhood experiences. Such as a middle child feeling they're being neglected for the first born and/or the baby in the family.

I guess I'm on the fence on this issue.

 

I think it is the first born because unlike the youngest child, we are kind of forgotten and have to make choices by ourselves, and through that we can truly be successful because we have the choice to make good decisions or bad ones by ourselves. We are expected more, and told that will always be loved because we are the first born, so we want to be better than our other siblings to prove we are better, thus we can be more successful in the eyes of Dredica.

 

It is because the parents usually will pay more attention to that child cause they have no idea what to do with it

 

It kindof does vary from family to family because im the last child and im pretty much ignord . the black sheep. My older sis is the one that gets all the attention . Im somewhat spoiled but not much.

It can also be just as bad being the last born also because sometimes they hav to live siblings rep or surpass them . So expecations of them are equal if not higher than what the first child might hav had.

 

That is a good point too. In the end, I think it really is just dependent on the family itself and how it works out for each member. I am the oldest in my family and had pretty general grades in High School and was nothing special even though I did have a higher IQ than my sister who had straight As. However, in college I have remained and have a very high GPA and she dropped out, but that doesn't prove much either. She ended up getting help from the family to line her up with a job, while I had to work through the army to keep going to college. I can't say either of us is better off though in the end, I would wager she makes more money than me at this point in our lives...I should call her. >.>

 

You have no idea how it is with me.I try and say something then some else comes in and start talking about something else and what I was saying is going to be ignored.

Like what I said before,my mom always bugs me to become a doctor or something.Pretty much a career that will pay me well.She hardly bugs my brothers about that.But I tell her no because I want to become a Zoologist.So she expects more from me I'm guessing.