Middle Children Are Better People Than Their Siblings

Middle children are allegedly more agreeable, humble, and honest than their siblings…(just not in my family.)

It’s a running joke and a well-known stereotype that middle children are the neglected, excluded siblings. However, in my experience as the youngest sibling with two older brothers, that’s not always the case.

Anyway… now, research has shown that middle children actually scored higher in honesty, humility, and agreeableness than their siblings.

Using the HEXACO Personality Inventory, researchers studied six dimensions of personality: Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience. 

Middle Children Are More Agreeable, Honest, and Humble

In this case, those with high scores in honesty and humility “avoid manipulating others for personal gain, feel little temptation to break the rules, are uninterested in lavish wealth and luxuries, and feel no special entitlement to elevated social status,” according to hexaco.org. 

On the other hand, people with high scores of agreeableness “forgive the wrongs that they suffered, are lenient in judging others, are willing to compromise and cooperate with others, and can easily control their temper.”

Middle children scored high in both of these regards. Scores were also especially high for families with more children.

“A commonsense possibility is that when one has more siblings, one must more frequently cooperate rather than act on selfish preferences,” Michael Ashtona and Kibeom Lee, the two study authors, wrote. “This ongoing situation might then promote the development of cooperative tendencies generally.”