Having siblings plays little part in type of person we end up being

By Gwyn Wright via SWNS

Having brothers and sisters plays little part in the type of person we end up being, according to a new study.

It had long been assumed for example that having lots of brothers would make a girl a bit of a tomboy but new findings throw this into doubt.

Psychologists dealt with the question of whether siblings cause brothers and sisters to adopt traditional “gender-conforming” traits.

For the new study, researchers analyzed data on more than 80,000 adults from nine countries including the US, Germany, Mexico and China.

Data was collected from longitudinal studies which gather information about people’s lives, including their living conditions and personality traits, over decades.

The German academics found there was no link between personality traits such as risk-taking, emotional stability, conscientiousness and patience, and sibling gender.

“Our findings refute the idea that growing up with brothers or sisters causes us to develop certain personality traits in the long term that are considered ‘typically female’ or ‘typically male’ in a society," said study author Dr. Julia Rohrer from the University of Leipzig.

“Overall, current research suggests that siblings have a surprisingly small impact on personality in adulthood.

“For example, previous studies by our research group show that sibling position – that is, whether a person is a firstborn or a sandwich child, for example – also does not play a major role in personality.”

The team say sibling gender can affect other areas of your life- for example, earlier studies have shown women with brothers earn less than those with sisters or no siblings.

However siblings only play a very small role in shaping your personality as an adult.

“There do seem to be some interesting dynamics here that are related to gender, but personality is probably not part of the explanation for such effects," Rohrer said.

The findings were published in the journal Psychological Science.