clipped from: www.telegraph.co.uk First-born children develop allergies. Last-born children are promiscuous. Babies sandwiched between the wimp and the womaniser will become hippies.
Wild claims, you might think, but, according to birth-order theorists, the roots of this dysfunctionality can be explained by your place in the birth-canal escape race.
So can the roots of success. Aside from genetics and gender, some say that the overriding factor in determining personality, and the achievement it dictates, is your position in the sibling hierarchy.
British theorists are more circumspect. Dr Richard Woolfson, a Glasgow-based child psychologist and author of Why Do Kids Do That? agrees that the order in which children are born can have a huge impact on their personalities. But, he says that parents can counteract any ill-effects that children may experience.
"If you look at the personalities and lifestyles of children of different birth orders, we find that they share certain characteristics," he says. "Broadly speaking, first-borns are the real achievers in terms of jobs, houses, marriage and stability. Parents are so in love with their new baby that they pour all their hopes and aspirations into them - far more so than later on.