Are First Born Children the Most Organized?
April 14, 2008 by Jennifer Chait
Filed under Home & Living
Many studies say yes.
As to the science behind the studies well, that leaves a little to be desired. One of the most (possibly the most) extensive studies to date is a study released last year that looked at 240,000 Norwegian men, their birth order, and their traits. This study found that found that firstborns had IQs of 2.3 higher than their next oldest brother while the second born beat out the third born by about 1.1 points. Read the New York Times take on this.
But IQ and organization are not necessarily connected, although some studies say that they are. I don’t love the Norway study anyhow, they didn’t bother looking at girls so I’m a little put out. However, when you start looking around, most research on birth order notes the following in some shape or form.
Birth order traits:
First born: Confident, organized, smarter, responsible, scholarly, less open to new ideas, more likely to attend college, likely to make more money than their siblings, and may be more stressed.
Middle born: Who?
Last born: Funny, precocious, risk takers, less likely to do well in school, charmer, agreeable although also more likely to try to provoke others, and may learn skills quicker than siblings – yet not end up better at the skills.
Only children seem by most accounts to match up with first born children the best. In families with two children it mainly seems to eliminate that middle child, with the two left simply taking on typical oldest youngest roles.
Of course there’s a whole world of agreements and disagreements with the above list – at least when it comes to first and last born children. Most researchers do actually agree that middle children are hard to study and don’t fit into a typical set of rules or traits. There’s also a lot that can happen in a family. Abuse for instance tends to break the rules of birth order, and so do things like an oldest child’s death, multiples, and high numbers of children in a family.All of that said, if you follow most of the documented research, one would think, that although there’s supposedly no such thing as being born organized, if you’re born first or an only child, you may be, in a way, born organized.
Who am I?
I’m actually a first born. I’m also the most organized of any of my siblings (I have two) but some of the other “typical traits don’t match up. I was a rebel of the family – always cutting class and doing crazy stuff (in an organized way though oddly enough – honestly, I always had a plan). Later I did very well in college so maybe my scholarly skills showed up late? My brother was also a rebel and fits the youngest child traits to excess. My sister, the middle child was a totally disorganized kid, except for at school where she was a straight A student, which makes no sense. She was, in my opinion far more ignored than my brother or I, and was shy until high school. Although my brother and I were attention seekers so, that may have had something to do with it.
But no matter what else you look at I am the most organized. Family events are always at my house and I do all the work. I know everyone’s phone number, remember all the birthdays, my budget is always done to the penny, I can tell you what’s what. My siblings are nothing like me when it comes to straight up organizing.
Learn more:
The Power of Birth Order – Time Magazine
Stuck in the middle with who? – The Journal
Who are you?
I think we should do our own study. Not that scientific or anything; you won’t have to sign a lab release form. In the sidebar I set up a new quiz. Go vote and / or leave a comment here about which birth order you are and if you’re the organized one. Later, maybe in a month or so we’ll look at the results, and see if the oldest and only children are really the most organized.
[photos via stock.xchng]
I am adopted, and only…I am organized
My oldest is the MOST unorganized of any of my eight kids, with my 2, 3, 6, and 8 being cleanies/naturally organized and the others being pathetic.
Marc is the youngest of 3, can be organized in some things but is a pack rat.
You don’t strike me as an only Marye. That’s a surprise. Cedar is an only and he’s organized, but not tidy at all – if that makes sense. He is not inclined to pick up, but when he does, he’s all about things having a place and using bins.
Cedar’s dad is a fourth born and so unorganized it’s not even funny. But he’s tidy about it. When he cleans, he really cleans, while I just clean minimal to keep things organized. But, he’d never be able to find Cedar’s medical records. People are strange.
I am the oldest, and most disorganized in my family. My younger sisters are both more organized than I am. I always say I’m organized in my head, but not on the outside if that makes any sense. I know where everything is at, but my organization does not make sense to anyone else.
My husband is the organized one (he’s a youngest child), he likes everything in its place. My son is the only child and is not organized at all, and hates to pick up after himself. It’s a constant battle to get him to pick up.
I’m the oldest in my family, but my younger brother (the middle child) is the most organized. However, that’s because he’s a Marine, and organization is kinda a requirement. lol Before he joined the Marines, I would say I was the most organized.
@Linette that’s so odd. Do you know all the hard-core gardeners I’ve known in real life have been very organized. Also, I don’t think your organization has to make sense to anyone – organized is organized. But I know what you mean. My file cabinet organization is so wacky I can’t even post it here, people might faint.
@Matt so technically you may be the most organized. I’ve always read that no one is really born organized, that you can learn organization, but it does seem like some are and some aren’t – especially when you look at siblings all raised the same by organized parents and then only one of the kids ends up organized. If it’s not genes, I wonder what makes organized folks and not organized folks tick – where’s that little something that makes a difference. BTW if I knew this I bet I’d be rich.