Middle children may have trouble feeling equal to their siblings in parental relationships. The older sibling often holds more responsibilities, and the younger sibling is well taken care of by the parents. The middle child isn't given as much attention as either.
The youngest gets more attention and fewer expectations. They wonder what they can do to be "special." The combination of less parental responsiveness and the “identity crisis” of not having a specific role in the family can make middle children feel less valued, so they may act out to get attention.
Middle children are good under pressure
Some research shows that firstborn children have a higher risk of depression than middle or last born kids. Unlike firstborn kids, middles are usually under less pressure from their parents to succeed.
They tend to feel left out
“They serve no clear family function. Thus, they may receive less attention from parents and oftentimes feel ignored and neglected.” In the eyes of the middle child, oldest siblings reap all the privileges and the babies get away with everything and need so much help.
The middle child seeks to carve out time and attention and an independent identity not only from the older and younger siblings, but especially attention from his/her parents. This attention seeking behavior is often misunderstood to the detriment of the middle child.
Overall, 38 percent of Americans who are the youngest in their family report they were the favorite, compared to 27 percent of those who were oldest. Middle children are the least likely to say they were a favorite child; only 20 percent believe they were.
The survey concluded that parents tend to favour their youngest child over the elder. More than half of the parents quizzed said they preferred their youngest child, while only 26 per cent said that their favourite child was their eldest.
Characteristics of a Middle Child
They're good at being mediators and want fairness in situations. They're also trustworthy friends and work well as team members. Not as family-oriented as their siblings. They may have a stronger sense of not belonging than their siblings do.
Being a middle child is tough. You're a younger sibling, but also an older one, and you often just ended up being overshadowed by both — but not on August 12, a.k.a. Middle Child Day. It's finally your turn to shine and share what it was like growing up — and it's not all bad! Being independent from a young age.
The middle child
Stereotype: Social butterfly, peacekeeper, fairness-obsessed.
To compensate for a perceived lack of attention, middle children may either act rebellious or try to people please. Their behavior is somewhat based off of their older sibling's personality. For example, if the older sibling is structured and responsible, the middle child might rebel to draw some of the attention away.
Middle Child Personality Traits
Therefore, the middle child is often a people-pleaser due to the lack of attention they get compared to older siblings and younger siblings. "The middle child often feels left out and a sense of, 'Well, I'm not the oldest. I'm not the youngest.
In such clear-cut scenarios, the middle child is simply the one born after the eldest and before the youngest.
Middle children are good at compromise (they have had to learn to be) and usually end up with someone most like them, but can really pair well with anyone. Middle children tend to be more satisfied with marriage in general, but they seem to pair best with spouses who are the youngest in their family.
According to Adler, the first born is more susceptible to depression because of high expectations of parents and suddenly losing the attention due to another sibling being born.
Research published in the Journal of Human Resources found that firstborn children outperform their younger siblings on cognitive tests starting from infancy — they are better set up for academic and intellectual success thanks to the type of parenting they experience.
Your success in life may be influenced by your birth order, according to the economist Sandra E. Black. Black points to research she and her colleagues have conducted that found that firstborns tend to be smarter, richer, and all-around more successful than their younger siblings.
No matter the situation, we're used to things not going our way. Therefore, the middle child is a resilient beast. We don't crumble under pressure (like the baby of the family), nor are we prone to getting a big head (like our older siblings). We're just strong and grounded AF.
"The stereotypical middle child is more sensitive, more distant from the family, even when they get along well, and often finds a path that's very different from the others, so they have a defined sense of self," says Dr. Daramus.
If you're a middle child, you don't have to be told twice that you're special. But as it turns out, middle children are actually becoming rare statistically as well. According to the Pew Research Center, by the late 1970s, the average mother had given birth to three or more kids, and thus had a middle child.
“Parents tend to favour a child that is most like them, reminds them of themselves, or represents what they view as a success of parenting,” she says. “Younger children are most likely to have been raised by a parent who, over time and experience, is more confident and skilled in their child-raising.”
A subsequent body of research, building over the years in the journal Evolution & Human Behavior, has delivered results in conflict with the 1995 paper, indicating that young children resemble both parents equally. Some studies have even found that newborns tend to resemble their mothers more than their fathers.
According to the survey, over half of parents who admitted to having a favorite child picked their youngest. You will often hear parents say that they love all their children equally but a new study suggests that's a bunch of baloney. In fact, many parents secretly favor their youngest kid over the rest.
According to researcher Katrin Schumann, middle kids are more likely to have strong social lives and flourishing careers too.