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Part One Personal Development
Family Interactions
Your family provides you with daily experiences no other setting can
give you. Every member of a family fulfi lls certain roles. A role is a socially
expected behavior pattern. Your primary role now is of a son or daughter.
However, you fi ll other roles as well. If your grandparents are living,
you have the role of a grandson or granddaughter. If there are siblings
(brothers or sisters) in your family, you are also a brother or sister.
By now, you have learned to get along with different members of
your family. Your reaction to each is different. The “give and take” of
sibling relationships helps your social growth. Sometimes you may
• be less independent
• feel “overshadowed” at times by
older or younger siblings
Youngest Children may…
• receive a lot of attention and
protection from others in the family
• receive more direction from other
family members
• be pampered or indulged as the
“baby of the family”
• receive less encouragement to be
independent
No matter what position you have
in your family, the way you interact with
other members of your family affects
their personality development as well
as your own. How can you contribute
positively to the environment of all family
members?
Each child in a family has a different
personality. Research suggests that
some personality traits are shaped by the
age of each child in relation to his or her
siblings. The following are examples of
ways in which a child’s personality may
be infl uenced by his or her birth order.
Oldest Children tend to…
• grow up rapidly and be given more
responsibility
• have the strongest desire to achieve,
as the parents may expect more
• be expected to care for younger sib-
lings and set a good example for them
• be more independent
Middle Children tend to…
• benefi t from the companionship of a
sibling
• be given less responsibility than an
oldest child
Infl uences of Birth Order Infl uences of Birth Order
Teen Focus