LadyFish
Admiral
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2003
- Messages
- 6,894
Inequality begins at home. The children born in the middle of the family are at a much higher risk than their older or younger siblings of not being as successful as an adult. It's not about birth order. It's about the pecking order--and the economic disparities that naturally occur based on where you land in that order. So says New York University sociologist Dalton Conley, author of the groundbreaking book "The Pecking Order: Which Siblings Succeed and Why." His startling conclusions are based on an exhaustive data analysis of the 1990 United States Census, the General Social Survey conducted by the University of Chicago over the last 30 years, and a landmark study that was launched in 1968 by the University of Michigan, as well 175 interviews with 75 families from around the country.<br /><br />Does birth order determine success? The answer may surprise you.<br /><br />Conley's premise: Middle-born children, who never have the experience of being the only child in the family, suffer financially compared with their siblings.<br />The New York Times reports that Conley's research uncovered these disheartening facts:<br />--Middles are less likely to receive financial support for their education.<br />--Middles may do less well in school than their siblings.<br />--The chance that middle-borns will attend a private school drops by 25 percent with the birth of a third child.<br />--The chance that middles will be held back a year in school increases severalfold with the birth of a third child. <br /><br />OMG I'm the middle child out of 5, they make it sound like I'm doomed and that all my hard work was for naught.<br /><br />Good thing I only believe half of what I read.<br /><br />I do agree us middle children are different in many respects but I don't buy the less likely to succeed theory.
