Has Your Birth Order Shaped Your Personality?

Would you associate certain character traits with being typical of an only child? How about for the eldest or youngest? April 10 is National Siblings Day and to mark it, we’re looking at one question posed in a YouGov survey in the United States in October 2023: How much, if at all, do you think being [An only child / the oldest sibling / a middle child / the youngest sibling] has shaped your personality?

Data shows that only children as well as the eldest siblings were most likely to say their position in their family had shaped their personality a great deal. This was followed by the youngest child and then the middle child.

The survey found several other trends among the surveyed population. For example, middle children were least likely to say they “loved” or “liked” their place in the family order (with 30 percent picking the two options), while the youngest and the oldest were almost tied, at 44 percent and 43 percent, respectively, picking one of the two options.