Middle Child Syndrome Have you ever wondered if your place of birth, especially that of a middle child, has any effect on your personality and consciousness? Psychologists and many others have actually thought about the topic and believe that there is a connection between personality development and the niche occupied in the family. Many people, including myself, have wondered why some siblings are treated differently than others. For example, the eldest usually gets more responsibilities and privileges, while the younger is usually pampered and gets out of trouble without getting burned. This in fact concerns the Birth Order. Birth order: position of the child in relation to his siblings. In a number of siblings, it is also the rank of the child based on age. This has more of an effect on personality than on intelligence (“What is birth order?”). But if the eldest gets more privileges and responsibilities, and the youngest gets out of trouble and is pampered, what does the middle child get? This now brings us to middle child syndrome. Middle Child Syndrome: When a middle child, usually the second of three close children, feels left out, overlooked, and neglected ("Middle Child Syndrome"). You may be wondering, "Is birth order a real thing?" With a good portion of the research dating back more than a decade and continuing, most of this research done by physicians, psychologists, and professors (Dr. Kevin Leman, Catherine Salman, Dr. Ronald W. Richardson), is quite Obviously this is a real thing. With so much publicity on this topic, one thing we need to think about is how do we judge the differences between children? How do we justify the generalization that the eldest is responsible, the...... middle of paper... unit of becoming more than a victim of circumstances. We have the opportunity to grow into who we are as middle children and use it to our advantage. Source no. 1: ("What is birth order?") http://psychologydictionary.org/birth-order/Source #2: ("Middle Child Syndrome") http://www.urbandictionary.com/ define.php?term=Middle%20Child%20SyndromeSource #3: ("Understanding the Power of Birth Order") http://www.today.com /id/39459807/ns/today-parenting_and_family/t/understanding- power-birth-order/#.UzNpBqhdXE0Source #4: (“Born In Between”) http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/field-guide- families/201210/born-in-betweenSource #5: (“The peer relations in Middle Childhood”) http://www.education.com/reference/article/peer-relations-middle-childhood/Source #6: (“Middles More successful?”) http://www.dailymail. co.uk/femail/article-2079636/Middle-children-MORE-successful-So-true-family.html