Not only that, the study found ‘second-born boys are … 20% to 40% more likely to be disciplined in school than their older sibling' with an increased chance of being arrested!
John says, ‘The results are remarkable. Second-born children, compared to their older siblings, are much more likely to end up in prison, much more likely to get suspended in school, [and much more likely to] enter juvenile delinquency.'
Comforting, eh?
And this is apparently down to the level of attention parents give to the second-born child. (Wow, thanks for the parental guilt!)
The researchers said, ‘We consider differences in parental attention as a potential contributing factor to the gaps in delinquency across the birth order.’
But before you panic, there actually isn’t much you can do about this.
‘The firstborn child has role models who are adults,’ says Doyle. ‘And the second later-born children have role models who are slightly irrational 2-year-old, you know, their older sibling. ‘
So basically your eldest will teach your youngest all the bad habits they know - fun!
This story originally appeared on Practical Parenting
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