[jcjec]

I'm currently reading a book by Dr. Kevin Leman titled The New Birth Order Book. It deals with people's place in their family and how it forms their personalities. While I don't agree with everything he says in his book, it did make me start to wonder: what kind of person makes a Star Trek fan?

[ensign edwards]

I said only child but that's not entirely true since I have an older half brother. However I never lived with him and have hardly spent any time with him so for all intents and purposes I'm an only child.

And I am a ruthless perfectionist.

[maneth]

Firstborn.

I'm a compromiser (too lazy to be a perfectionist, although I can be quite manipulative if the situation warrants). My sister is two and a half years younger than me and since she was about one year old she's always been the dominant party in our relationship. She was always the extroverted one getting into trouble, I was the level headed one trying to salvage the situation with our parents.

[aklaus]

This poll discriminates against those from certain non-traditional family situations...

[maneth]

It does, but so does the theory of how birth order influences personality.

[aklaus]

Actually, psychological/sociological theories regarding the link between birth order and personality are trying to move beyond the stereotypes.

<-- had to take both psychology and sociology back in undergrad

[maneth]

That's good to know, given that non-nuclear families are becoming almost the norm rather than the exception, although to be fair, nuclear families are mainly limited to Western and some Asian cultures, and until medical advances made death in childbirth less of a hazard for women, a majority of children were raised by someone other than both their biological parents.

[Trek Realist]

There are three siblings in my family, I am the oldest, my sister is the middle child, and my brother is the youngest. Technically, my brother is the first born and he is the most successful of the three of us, the scale goes as such:

• My Brother ($80,000/year, athletic, attractive, financially secure, successful)
  
• My Sister ($12,000/year, mentally handicapped, HIV positive, Drug Abuser)
  
• Me ($40,000/year, overweight, diabetic, financially iffy, successful enough to not be fired from his job)

How does that fit?

[Maco Captain]

First born.

[jonathan]

sucks to be the youngest