The Relationship Between Birth Order and Personality and Career Choices

Birth order plays a substantial role in a child’s life because the family is the first social system to which a child is exposed. One hundred subjects from a private liberal arts New England College were surveyed and asked to report their birth order, perceived traits, career choice, and college major. Analysis revealed there is statistically significant data regarding the relationship between first children and predicted, typical first child personality traits. The second hypothesis pertaining to birth order and chosen college majors was not statistically significant. However, there does exist a significant relationship between those subjects that tended to select personality traits that are identified as last children and the association with selected college majors. This could imply that psychological birth order may in fact play a significant responsibility in shaping a child’s career choice. The findings of this analytical study are intended to encourage further investigation. The knowledge from this study can be seen as advantageous for the social work profession. It is imperative for social workers to understand and acknowledge every individual client in the context of the social systems in which they live in an effort to make progress and empower clients to achieve their goals.