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Factors that influence children personalities

It's long been speculated that birth order has an effect on personality. Specifically, that first born children are usually receive the most freedom and babying, the middle children generally receive less attention and are stuck in the middle of things, and babies of the families are spoiled and lack focus. It is now thought that the effect of birth order on personality is much more diverse and complex. Each child may acquire a certain characters in his family according to his birth order, but there are also other factors that help to shape his personality.

The first factor and the one that can be most clearly observed is the society and the environment where the family is. Different societies have different aspects and norms that affect the life style of its families. We can notice this fact when comparing Western societies with Arabian Gulf societies. For instance, the middle children in western societies may be more eager to improve self-concept than their siblings, whereas in Gulf societies they feel more inadequate in comparison to the older sibling. They exhibit this behavior in an attempt to receive the attention that is given to the older child. In addition, the oldest child in Gulf societies is often more responsible and parental for his family and siblings than his peer in western societies. This may be a result of the close relationships in Gulf societies and the greater freedom given in western societies. The youngest child in both societies has approximately the same characteristics; he is needy, spoiled, lack the desire to become independent and has most of his parents' attention. As a result we can say that each society has an important role in developing and affecting the children's characteristics according to its norms.

The second factor is the type of family, extended or nuclear. In an extended family which involves parents, grand-parents, sometimes...