A new study has found older siblings enjoy exerting power over their younger brothers or sisters, while younger siblings work hard to keep the peace.

This dynamic is true even for twins, where the age gap may be just a few minutes, not years.

An Australian study of 355 pairs of siblings and twins aged 13 to 17 found younger children play down their success to protect the feelings of their older brothers and sisters.

But older siblings have less concern for the feelings of their younger brothers and sisters, and enjoy being more successful.

The study, by University of Queensland emeritus professor Pat Noller and PhD student Anita Blakely-Smith, concluded that “the older sibling, even in twins, seems to have more power in the relationship, whereas the younger sibling is continually working to preserve their relationship with the younger one”.

“Younger siblings also played down their success when they outperformed their older sibling and were generally more aware of their older sibling’s self-evaluation needs,” they said…

Parenting ideas.com.au director Michael Grose, author of Why Firstborn Rule the World and Lastborns Want to Change It, said the research was backed up by existing studies.

“Generally firstborns like to be the boss and have a competitive gap between them and those who follow,” he said.

“But second or last borns tend to try and keep the peace and often use charm to do it. They also often have better people skills.” …

Source: Courier Mail, Australia
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22833054-23272,00.html