Second Born kids Really Are A Pain In The Butt, Study Confirms!
Research tells us why kid number two is more trouble.
A new study shows that second-born children really may be more likely to get in significant forms of trouble. Having two children myself, I knew from the minute number 2 was born that he was going to give me trouble.
An MIT economist Joseph Doyle, studied tens of thousands of kids from Denmark and Florida to see if the birth order had any effect on that kid engaging in trouble in school, juvenile delinquency, or adult crime. The study focused on families with two children and the second born being a boy.
The results. Second-born boys were 20-40% more likely to get into trouble in school or in the court system than the first-born boy…
Why is this?
According to the study, there is a huge difference in the attention we give each kid, researchers say that first-born do receive more attention because they are the only one at that point.
There’s another interesting theory:
Doyle says, “The firstborn has role models, who are adults. And the second, later-born children have role models who are slightly irrational 2-year-olds, you know, their older siblings.”
