The Number of Siblings and their Position in the Family - Term Paper Example

The number of siblings and their position in the family in terms of birth effects language development Discussion and exploration of the personality development influenced by the birth order has been an ancient event. In the past century more than thousand articles have been published in this domain. The concept of correlation between the birth order and personality development have been first explored in detail by Alder for analyzing the psychological situation of each birth order position (Lohman, 1985, p. 313). With respect to the pampered or rejected child, Alder focused on the parent-child relationship but considering the birth order he examined the sibling relationships. The birth order is a fact is bestowed upon the Child’s existence, a location in a social structure. According to Alder, the location leaves an impact which is borne from the childhood and the traits are found in the adult life which has been found to be affecting the adult personality also (Shulman and Mosak, n.d.). Alder’s view point Analyzing the effects of birth order Alder considers that children of the same family are usually not born into the same environment. The birth of the second child is generally takes place in a varied psychological situation as compared to the first child. If the eldest child is feeble-minded, then the second one may adapt the role of the first born. Reduction in competition is generally encountered with the marked difference in age between siblings. And lastly, the birth order is not an absolute determinant but it is only an influence and the influence of the parents is also important in this case. Alder often emphasized on one’s birth order as having an influence on the style of life and strengths. According to Alder, the eldest sibling is usually bestowed a large amount of attention, affection and spoiling. The oldest children are generally trained to imitate their fathers or mothers and generally play the role of supplementary father or mother with the younger children. They usually look after them, teach them and feel themselves responsible for their welfare. The oldest people are generally concerned with their own prestige and pride for being the first and shouldering responsibility for the other people. Again Alder refers the life of the first born as being “dethroned” when a second child is born and this may infuse feelings of jealousy or tension among them. In order to seek the attention of their parents, they perform various behavior which may vary between good behavior to rebellious behavior or may lead to the develop traits of depression among them (Armitage, 2007, p. 8). In case of the middle child, from the very first day, the child tries to make out a new and individual role from that of the oldest child. The experts in the field encountered that these children are often susceptible to injustice, unfairness. Alder also stated that the middle child is generally in a race trying to develop beyond the older siblings. Sometimes rivalry in the families are intense that leads to the encouragement of comparisons in the families. The second child may also be less responsible and more independent and cooperative because from the very first day he/she is always sharing attention with another child. In addition the second child also may highlight his/ her concentration on the activities which are usually different in areas of interest as compared to the eldest child. The middle child usually identifies the areas of weaknesses by the oldest siblings and develops on those areas and tries to achieve success and praise from parents. Alder also states that in his later life it is seen that the middle child usually do not tolerate the strict leadership of others (Armitage, 2007, p. 8). In case of the youngest child, there is a predominant notion that, "All other children can be dethroned, but never the youngest". They are generally regarded as spoiled and are well taken care of by the older siblings and the parents and lies within the protected arena of sibling and parental superstructure. The youngest children regard themselves to be the center of attraction by all the family members. This is so because when they are born, they are generally surrounded by family and they feel more comfortable in the social gatherings and they usually enjoy entertaining. According to some experts they are often regarded as manipulative and they are often encountered in crying. Sometimes the psychologically youngest children are regarded as charmers (Armitage, 2007, p. 9). In case of the only child, they can never be dethroned. But they are found to be bearing similar characteristics of the youngest child in the family. According to Alder, the only child’s rival is not his or her brothers and sisters but usually the father of the family. For seeking the attention of the mother, the child will compete and it has been found that the mothers spoil the baby or the only child of the family. If the children are spaced many years apart, each child will bear the same feature of an only child. This phenomenon can take place if the parents are apprehensive to have more children because of economic circumstances or other factors. The only children are sometimes perceived to be quite mature of their age and are found to be comfortable with adults, responsible and are quick developer of cognitive skills. But they are often found to lack in their ability to connect with their peer group which could make the situation adverse for the only children in the adjustment process as for example in course of entering kindergarten they face problems which require interaction with the peers in a rigorous manner (Armitage, 2007, pp. 9-10). Ordinal position and language development Language is recognized as one of the prime interpreters of academic success. The influence of the language acquisition is assumed to be significant among the children in different cultural settings unique from those of the prevailing population. Language is also central to the early literacy of every child. It has been encountered that one of the biggest constraints to school success for the Spanish speaking children in the United States is the learning to read in English. This barrier can be removed with the help of good foundation of language in the early childhood through the family effects and the sibling effects. Various socioeconomic challenges are faced by the Latino population in the U.S. related to fields like education, demographics, poverty, and identity. Recent Latino immigrant family’s experiences full time labor working parents, various migration issues and psychological pressures due to their transnational situation and limited access to the social and community services. In order to cope up with these challenges the families generally rely on the siblings and other family members to become the extra resources as buffers. Older siblings in Latino families play predominant roles as “linguistic bridges” into the English speaking US school system. The siblings also act as potential family social resource for the promotion of language development. Several research and empirics have propounded that the first born children are generally exposed to more adult languages while the later born children are exposed to less mature sibling’s vocabularies. The mothers speak less to the younger children during triadic interactions which involve parent, child, and an older sibling. It is usually the case that the later-born children and first-borns receive the language inputs from their parents in different manner. From the very early stages, the younger children observe and follow the ways of their older siblings and the younger siblings receive physical, social, cultural and academic skills from their older counterparts. The shared experiences among the siblings let provides them the opportunity of analyzing each other’s strengths and weaknesses and also let them to become helpful teachers and learners. The English language development of the younger siblings have been much more predominant whose older siblings are equipped with the language as compared to ones who are only child or whose older counterparts are not developed in the language (Ortiz, 2009, pp.9-12). Conclusion The ordinal positioning of the birth has predominant effect in the personality and cognitive behavior development among the children. Alders theory of ordinal positioning is mentioned and the effects on sibling’s effect are mentioned in a synchronized manner. The focus was to confirm the dominance of the older sibling’s influence over the younger ones in the personality development of the later. In our study the development of the English language largely depends on the older Latino sibling’s teachings and interaction with their younger ones. It can be also mentioned that if the family structure and siblings influence the language development at preschool ages then rational development of the engagements of the how to engage siblings and other family members in meaningful ways could be chalked out and implemented for the promotion and good development strategies of younger children. Effective training to the older siblings and other family members should be given special emphasis for creating opportunities of positive intervention. Involvement of the other siblings in major program activities leads to the creation of new dimension of development. Ultimately developing cultural perspectives in childhood issues such as the language development will help in the proper adjustment and adaptation of a demographically changing nation. References Armitage, S. (2007), Birth Order: College Students' Perceptions of Their Ordinal Position Ordinal Position Compared to Alfred Adler’s Categories, Retrieved on June 13, 2012, from: http://www2.uwstout.edu/content/lib/thesis/2007/2007armitages.pdf Lohman, T. G. ( 1985), Psychological Position and Perceived Sibling Differences, Journal of Adlerian Theory, Research & Practice, 41(3),  313-327, Retrieved on June 13, 2012, from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=275bfdb0-05a4-4920-8ebd-cba38cb26695%40sessionmgr110&vid=4&hid=105 Ortiz, E. A. (2009), The Influence of Family Structures and the Role of Siblings on Early Language Development of Latino Preschool Children, Retrieved on June 13, 2012, from: http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1475&context=etd Shulman, B, H & Mosak, H, H (n.d), BIRTH ORDER AND ORDINAL POSITION: TWO ADLERIAN VIEWS, Retrieved on June 13, 2012, from: http://carterandevans.com/portal/images/pdf/article11.pdf Appendix: Read More