by Robert Grice

Created on: January 06, 2011   Last Updated: April 05, 2012

Does birth order matter? Alfred Adler suggested that it did. Adler popularized the idea that a child’s birth order in the family shaped the child’s personality. The birth order categories identified by Adler and made popular by other authors like Kevin Leman include first born, only children, middle child and last born.

Last-born children are particularly interesting. Last-born individuals are the baby in the family. They generally receive the most attention in the family and often received much of what they wanted as children so they tend to be self-centered and spoiled. Last-born individuals can engage in drama in relationships simply to get attention and to get attention when they want it. They are prone to pout when they do not get their way in life. 

Positive characteristics 

In terms of positive characteristics, last-born children are the fun ones. Last-born children share the characteristics such as being risk takers, immature and idealists. They often have a good sense of humor and enjoy making people laugh. They are natural-born actors and comedians. Last-born individuals tend to be self-confident, sociable and caring. They are good at convincing others to get involved in activities. 

Negative characteristics

Last-born individuals can possess negative characteristics. They can be immature, self-centered, impulsive and spoiled. Last-born children were the babies in the family and frequently benefited from doting family members with lax discipline. They may be the most likely among the other birth order categories to become the family rebel. Last-born children typically reject the family norms and may resort to questioning the family’s values and religious convictions. Lastly, last-born children may find the completion of protracted or routine tasks to be difficult though they may demonstrate high energy in the beginning. 

Emotional intelligence

Last-born individuals often know how to interact with people. In other words, they often develop a high level of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence describes a person’s social awareness and ability to engage in social interactions and maintain social relationships. A sociable nature is a good trait, but sociability can lead to manipulative behavior. 

Careers for last-born

Last-born individuals are very good in sales and vocations that involve high interactions with others. Artistic career interest runs high for the last-born such as in acting or working as a comedian. They tend to like public roles where they can gain attention. For example, famous last-born individuals include Jay Leno, Ralph Nadar and Danny DeVito. 

Romance

A last-born enjoys relationships charged with emotion. They want constant attention and demonstrations of affection. The last-born can be difficult in relationships because of a tendency to be co-dependent and smothering. The resistance to structure and order often creates a volatile environment where turmoil in some manner becomes the norm. Romance becomes difficult when a last-born is romantically involved with another last-born. The lack of order, the lack of boundaries, and impulsively can create a relationship marked by frequent arguments, overspending, and sensitivity to changes in relational satisfaction.

Learn more about this author, Robert Grice.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.