Most parents who have more than one child usually agree on the one who the attention that the firstborn receives, can hardly match those received later by his brothers. It is something completely logical and understandable: our time is limited and our attention must be divided among all children.
But now, a recent study conducted in Denmark and Florida concludes that Second born children are more likely to have certain behavior problems than his older brothers. The reason? The difference in the attention they receive from their parents.
More school absenteeism and higher crime rate
The study, entitled "Birth and crime order: evidence from Denmark and Florida", has been carried out by economist and researcher Joseph Doyle and his team, with the aim of study whether the birth order is related to adult behavior and crime problems.
To do this, they decided to study thousands of families from both Denmark and Florida, two types of rich societies but very different from each other, not only geographically, but also socially in terms of how to approach crime and punishment. However, the findings obtained have been very similar.
In both societies, it has been seen that The birth order of children is closely related to absenteeism in school and behavior problems, both in childhood and later in adulthood.
These problems are found regardless of whether the second born child is a boy or a girl. Instead, the study has determined that criminal acts committed in adulthood occur more frequently among men born in second place than among women with the same birth order.
"Children born in second place are between 20 and 40 percent more likely to be less disciplined in school than their older siblings, as well as to enter, in adulthood, the criminal justice system" - indicated in the study.
Less time and attention from parents
According to this study, the common denominator of behavior problems, school absenteeism and crime is not only the birth order, but the attention received from their parents.
According to the researchers, the latter are more likely to attend daycare earlier than their older siblings, to receive less attention from their mothers and to have less time exclusively from their families.Personally, I do not doubt the study or the data that have been obtained comparing all these parameters, but I think that if we had to take into account everything that is published regarding the order of birth of the children, we would go crazy or decide to stay alone with one.
Because it is a Obviously, the time devoted to the firstborn will never be the same as the time we dedicate to the rest of the children. My oldest son was an only child for four years and his brothers will never know what it is to have that privilege.
Perhaps this fact affects your behavior and your way of being, or maybe the birth order has nothing to do with it in this and everything be the fruit of their own personalities and as such we should educate them.
But what is undeniable is that at some point in the upbringing, parents who have more than one child have come to feel some guilt for not being able to multiply and serve them all equally.
I myself have cried helplessly at the duet crying of my two young children, who have only been 18 months. And, with all the pain in my heart, I had to stop caring for one to focus on the other.
But little by little the situations change, our children are maturing and we learn to relativize. And if it is true that the order of birth affects the character of our children, in my opinion we can do little about it, except to continue educating and raising the best we know and always with love and respect as bases.
