For many moms — they might find that they wholeheartedly agree with a new study’s findings and others will completely disagree. That’s okay! Whether you agree with it or not — a new study has found that second-born children are more likely to get in trouble. Maybe even significant trouble.
An MIT economist named Joseph Doyle conducted a study with tens of thousands of children located in either Denmark or Florida.
The purpose of the study was to figure out if birth order had any effect on a person’s propensity to be in trouble in school and/or engage in adult crime.
The study chose to observe families with 2 or more children and focused on families with a boy as the second-child. They chose boys because it’s already been shown that teen boys get in trouble more often than teen girls.
Would the study reveal that second-born boys are more prone to finding themselves in unruly behavior or engaging in criminal behavior? You might find the results interesting.
Among the tens of thousands of children studied, 20-40% of second-born boys are more like to have issues at school and later, in the court system.
Interestingly enough — the second-born boy was also much more likely to be a troublemaker if the older sibling was a brother, not a sister.
Researchers also noted that despite the children being in Denmark and also Florida, with different socioeconomic situations, the findings of the study were astonishingly similar across the board.
So, why are second-born children more prone to a trouble or crime-filled life than first-born children?
Researchers on the study say that it’s all because of the parents.
“We consider differences in parental attention as a potential contributing factor to the gaps in delinquency across the birth order.”
It’s theorized that the first born child gets all the attention and all of the coddling. Another factor was considered — the idea that the first born has adult role models while the second-born looks up to their toddler sibling.
Parents shouldn’t start assuming their second-born is destined for a life of detention and jail time.
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This study was meant to paint a broad and generalized picture of the birth order and its effect on behavior. And remember — this was just one study! Keep it as food for thought.
On a lighter note — go make sure you tell your second-born you love them!
Source: NPR; featured image credit: WikiNut
