Second-borns more likely to become criminals, says study

(Representational image)

New Delhi: People with siblings will know the drill of trying to one-up each other in front of the parents and their respective friends.

The blame games, name-calling, accusations of favouritism, etc has been a part and parcel of growing up and we would be lying if we said that it doesn't happen when we grow older, because it does.

But who among the two has the potential to become a trouble-maker? Of course, fingers will be pointed at each other, but a report by an MIT economist and his colleagues has revealed the truth.

Much to the younger siblings' chagrin and the elder ones' delight, the report has said that the "curse of the second-born child" might be true and second-borns (particularly boys) are inclined to be more rebellious than their older siblings.

According to a leading daily, data was collected from thousands of sets of brothers in both the US and Europe, and concluded that the younger ones have 25-40 percent increased chances of getting into serious trouble at school or with the law when compared to the first-born in the same family.

The reason for this, the report went on to explain, is that first-borns are showered with more time and attention by parents and are generally less vigilant for the younger one.

Joseph Doyle, the lead researcher, told NPR: “The first-born has role models, who are adults. And the second, later-born children have role models who are slightly irrational two-year-olds, you know, their older siblings.

“Both the parental investments are different, and the sibling influences probably contribute to these differences we see in the labour market and what we find in delinquency. It’s just very difficult to separate those two things because they happen at the same time.”