Albert Adler, Birth Order and Personality

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how Albert Adler, a disciple of Sigmund Freud who later broke away from Freud in order to formulate his own theories of human psychology, theorized that the order in which a person is born (e.g., only; oldest; second of two; middle of three or more; youngest; twin) inherently affects that individual's personality. The author takes this theory and applies it to his own experience as an only child.

From the Paper:

"Moreover, a middle child (of three or more) may also feel squeezed or sandwiched between other siblings, and may, therefore, feel that he or she cannot find a distinct place in the family constellation ("Birth Order Dynamics and Response to Stress"). A youngest child has "the least amount of power in the whole family. He sees his older siblings having more freedom and more superiority. He also gets pampered and protected more than any other child ("Personality Synopsis"). With twins, there is generally a more dominant and a less dominant twin, and these roles function somewhat similarly to the positions of an older and a younger child (of two) (Stein)."

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