Birth Order Research Essay

Thoughts on Birth Order Research

            Only children are higher in achievement due to motivation from parental attention. My parents are a big part of my life and are my motivation to be the best I can be. According to the birth order research I am in the only child category which shows traits I am supposed to relate to. For the most part I agree with the birth order research.

            Although I am uncertain when approaching people, I am not uncertain about getting my work done. One of the traits was that only children get along well with those older or younger (but not the same age). I don’t really agree with this trait as I am equally capable of befriending all age groups, but it depends on the person and their personalities. It also depends if the person greets me first or if am introduced to them, because I feel unwelcome if they don’t. For example, I meet a lot of really awesome people through my cousins who I would never probably meet without them. Another trait is that we are reliable and conscientious; this is a trait that I agree with. When I am told to do something I always do it to the best of my ability. For instance even though this past weekend was practically consumed by homework I stayed up late to finish the draft to the best of my ability. I will say I agree with most traits in the research, but not all.

            Although I’m a perfectionist, I don’t procrastinate, and I am certainly not self-centered or cold-blooded. The next trait says we procrastinate to relieve burden of perfectionism. I partially agree with this statement as the littlest things take a long time contemplate, but I am not a procrastinator. Things can be hard sometimes but I know what I have to do and get it done. The other trait is we are self-centered and cold-blooded. This is a trait I disagree with, my happiness comes from being with people who are happy and that does not involve me being cold-blooded or putting myself above others importance. I partially agree with one point, and don’t agree with the other.

            Sometimes I think if I wasn’t so critical on myself life would be so much easier. This is a trait I couldn’t agree anymore with. I always aim for the highest score I can get with my expectations set high. If I don’t get what I think is a good grade, an A or high B, I lose my composure a little. Sometimes its good thing to be critical on yourself to keep your grades up, but sometimes it’s not so good, especially when you have a lot of homework and twenty minute work turns into forty minute work. This last trait is one that I very much agree with.

            Being in the only child category I agree with most of the traits from the research. I believe that most of these researched traits accurately describe me. The research has not really changed my views but has shown me a group of people with similar traits.