1. Birth Order The Oldest Child The Middle Child The Youngest Child The Only Child

2. The Oldest Child Feels pressure to fulfill parental expectations High Achievers Feels overly responsible Follows the rules Defends the status quo Examples: Rush Limbaugh, Hillary Clinton Cultural Factors: The oldest male expected to take over the family business.

3. The Middle Child Confused about their identity since they follow the oldest Sensitive to being left out or slighted Seek other ways to be unique Becomes the rebel Examples: Howard Stern, Madonna, Malcolm X, comedians e.g. Jay Leno, David Letterman Take up left wing, liberal causes e.g. Martin Luther King, Yasir Arafat, Oprah Winfrey etc.

4. The Youngest Child Easy going and carefree Clown or show-off in the family Play the victim role and depend on their charm and manipulation to get their way Girls: spontaneous, cheerful, bratty, trouble making decisions, wants it all. Boys: daring, headstrong, rebellious, compared unfavorably to older brothers and becomes a comedian to cope e.g. Eddie Murphy, Billy Crystal, Bob Hope, Ronald Reagan

5. The Only Child They have the parents undivided attention Self-assured, secure, self-reliant Not confident getting along with peers since they have no siblings. Take on the qualities of the over-achieving oldest and the pampered youngest. Highly developed verbal skills and act like miniature adults Examples: Ted Koppel, Brooke Shields, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Reagan

6. Birth Order Considerations Five years or more between age of siblings invalidates the correlations If parent believes girls shouldnt be achieving than an older girl may not fulfill the achieving oldest birth order quality. Highly successful business women were either the oldest, only, or had no brothers according to a study of business women in the U.S.