A new study suggests that birth order, gender, and personality influence parental favoritism, although the reasons are likely more complex.
A new study suggests parents really do have a favorite child based on birth order, gender, and personality. Although the reasons may be more complex. According to a meta-analysis of nearly 19,500 people in 30 different studies published in the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe between 2015 and 2022, plus an additional 14 unpublished databases, youngest children generally receive slightly more favorable treatment from their parents.
However, this favouritism for the baby of the family was no longer true when the authors looked specifically at control and autonomy as predictors, and then, parents preferred the eldest. In other words, parents were less controlling of older siblings. Parents also reported slightly favoring daughters over sons. Personality played a role, too, with the authors noting that parents tended to favor children who were 'agreeable' and 'conscientious,' regardless of birth order and gender. The study, conducted by researchers at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, and Western University in London, Ont., looked at birth order, gender, temperament, and personality and whether these predicted parental differential treatment. The authors analyzed responses from parents and siblings. But Lisa Strohschein, a sociology professor at the University of Alberta and the editor-in-chief of the journal Canadian Studies in Population, suggests this may be because the story simply fits narratives people already have about parental preferential treatment. The study itself had very small effect sizes, she cautioned, to the point that they're nearly 'trivial.' Even the authors, Strohschein added, where they write that 'the reasons why parents treat their children differently are likely more complex and extend beyond the factors explored in this study.' 'If parents are preferring one child over another, that can have really toxic effects,' Strohschein, who was not involved with the new study, told CBC News. 'It's very common, but I don't think it depends on age or gender or birth order as much as we think.' A recent study of 700,000 online participants from Canada, the U.S., Australia, and the United Kingdom found that middle children were more cooperative than their siblings, but it could be due to family size rather than birth order. (Getty Images)But as for the current study's finding that parents tended to favor the more agreeable and conscientious child? That may be good news for middle children, according to new Canadian-led research published at the end of December in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of more than 700,000 online participants from Canada, the U.S., Australia, and the United Kingdom found that middle children were more cooperative than their siblings
PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIPS FAVORITISM BIRTH ORDER GENDER PERSONALITY
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