Here is some more fuel to fan the flames of sibling rivalries.
A Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist released a report that claims that second-born children -- particularly boys -- are more likely to misbehave. Joseph Doyle and colleagues Sanni Breining, David N. Figlio, Krzysztof Karbownik and Jeffrey Roth conducted research in January that supports the theory of "the curse of the second-born child," Lifehacker reported.
The data, collected from “particularly rich datasets” in Florida and Denmark, led to the conclusion that in families with two or more children, second-born boys are 25 to 40 percent more likely to be disciplined in school and enter the criminal justice system, compared to their first-born male siblings.
Doyle, speaking with NPR, said one possible explanation could be that parenting styles can change from the first child to the second.
“The first-born has role models, who are adults,” Doyle said. “And the second, later-born children have role models who are slightly irrational 2-year-olds, you know, their older siblings.
"Both the parental investments are different, and the sibling influences probably contribute to these differences we see in the labor marked and what we find in delinquency."
That does not doom a second-born child to a life of crime and failure, Doyle stresses. But it does explain some behavior patterns that seem to enhance that sibling rivalry.
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