By nature we look for reasons for why things are the way they are. For many that includes our own personality and behavior. That’s one of the reasons it’s been so easy to believe that birth order has a major impact on personality and how we make our way in the world.

We’ve all heard it before, the oldest child is the leader, and the youngest is the most laid back, the middle child has to act out for attention, etc. but a brand new study suggests birth order has very little effect on a person's disposition and intelligence.

I have an older sister and a younger brother and to me the theory has seemed spot on! However UPI reports that researchers surveyed more than 20,000 adults from Germany, the U.S. and Great Britain, and found no correlation between birth order and personality traits such as extroversion, emotional stability, agreeableness and conscientiousness. They never studied my family but I guess I’ll have to take their word for it!

They did find a small link between birth order and self-reported intelligence level, but the correlation was very minimal.

Study leaders say that in about four out of ten cases the youngest is smarter than their older sibling but overall, they found no substantial effects of birth order on any of the personality dimensions examined.

Not only does this contradict the theories of many prominent psychologists, but it also goes 50+ years of my family’s sibling rivalry! (UPI)

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