It was a funny yet interesting revelation for every firstborn when they heard what the recent study has to say about second-born kids.

A British website, Mum’s net, conducted a study through a poll and it showed that middle children or secondborns are most likely to be the least favorite. If this is not enough, there is another study conducted in 2017 that will definitely put an end to all doubts.

According to the study conducted by Joseph Doyle who is an economist from Massachusetts Institute of technology, reports that the second born children are more likely to misbehave compared to the other children in the family. The study suggests that the ‘middle child syndrome’ is real after all.

Doyle’s study shows that the second-child, especially boys, are more rebellious compared to their brothers and sisters. This was proven when thousands of brothers all across Europe and the United States were included in this study. The data collected shows that second born kids have a 40% probability of getting into trouble at school. In fact, they are more likely to get in trouble with the law. The reason for this might be due to the problems that they encounter with their parents.

Shankar Vedantam, a social science correspondent feels that once the second child is born, their parenting styles change. He says, “A number of studies have looked into this. And they’ve found that firstborns often do better than secondborns on many fronts, everything from educational attainment to test scores, IQ, wages, even labor market outcomes.”

Doyle also discusses his findings regarding NPR. He says that the firstborn children have their parents as their role models. They are mostly surrounded by adults where they can learn how to behave the right way or just like how adults do. Whereas when the second child is born later on, their role models are their older siblings who are usually just 2 or 3 years older than them.

Vedantam believes that this has something to do with the effects of parental time and investment. He also noted that there were many earlier studies to prove that firstborns have the undivided attention of their parents. But when kids are born later, this causes a competition for parental time and resources. He also believes that another factor is the difference of the peer group of firstborns and second-born children.

The parental investment that parents give on both children are different. First borns get all the attention from their parenst while their younger brother or sister have to share the time and attention of mom and dad. This is why he believes that the influence that it contributes to the differences that we notice in firstborns and second-born children. This might be the reason why when they are acting up, mom and dad doesn’t notice it right away.

Parents may not be aware but the way their rear each of their children is different. This theory about firstborns and second-born children may already have evidences to prove that it’s true, but mom and dad surely did not mean for this to happen. Still, this can be a good reason to help us understand why a person behaves the way they do, especially when we learn about their status in the family.