Impact of Birth Order on Emotional Competence

Abstract

One of the most well-known theories about the relationship between birth order and emotional competence is Alfred Adler’s theory of birth order. Adler argued that birth order can significantly impact a person’s personality and social development. He proposed that firstborns are typically more responsible and self-sufficient, while later-born children are more likely to be cooperative and adaptable—the present study aimed to examine the effect of birth order on emotional competence in males and females. The total sample size was 90, consisting of 45 males and 45 females, 15 each from the First and Middle Born and Last Born categories. A purposive random sampling technique was used to collect the data. The sample was administered using the Emotional Competence Scale (EC-Scale) by R. Bharadwaj and H. Sharma. Descriptive statistics and t-tests were used to verify the hypotheses. The findings reveal that there were significant differences in Emotional competence in males and females at different Birth Orders. The result shows that in the female group, the first order has average emotional competence, the second order has lower mean scores on Interpersonal and Interpersonal management, and the firstborn has difficulty managing their emotions and other people’s emotions too. The Middle born has a high score on the component of Interpersonal awareness, the middle born are well aware of other people’s emotions. The last born has the lowest mean score on the component of Intrapersonal management.