College of Education faculty member quoted in Southern Living

Linda Campbell, a faculty member in the College of Education, was quoted in Southern Living about younger siblings being more laid back. 

A poll from YouGov asked 1,783 British adults to rate different aspects of their personality based on where they fall in their family order. The results revealed that youngest siblings are more likely to think they are funnier than their older brothers and sisters, and they may be the most laid back out of all the siblings. By the time the youngest kid enters the picture, parents aren’t nervous first-timers anymore and tend to have given up their strictest rules and anxious hovering. Their parents’ relaxed supervision tends to make youngest children turn into more laid-back adults, who are less concerned with rules, deadlines or strict adherence to codes of conduct that others consider good manners.

Other studies have shown that the baby of a family tends to be more social and fun loving and generally more creative than their older siblings. While older children may dream of growing up with less strict parents hovering over their every move, youngest children may wish they had a little more of their parents’ boundaries.

“Some babies resent not being taken seriously,” said Campbell, who is a professor in the college’s counseling and human development services department. “They might become very responsible, like the oldest, or social, like the middle.”