Middle children: are they just straightforwardly better than everyone else?

Name: Middle children.

Age: Well, it varies, obviously. But younger than at least one sibling, and older than at least another.

Yes, I understand the meaning of the phrase. And why we are talking about middle children? Is it a TikTok trend? A survey actually – of more than 700,000 adults (mainly from English-speaking countries), conducted by psychologists at Brock University in Ontario, Canada. It was published last December but has been gathering renewed attention this week.

Fair enough. And how did these psychologists do their research? They used Hexaco.

Is that an oil company? The Hexaco Personality Inventory analyses six facets of personality: honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness to experience.

And how did middle children come out? Well … well!

What about so-called “middle child syndrome”? Being overlooked because of being neither the eldest nor the youngest? Doesn’t seem to matter. This study suggests middle children might turn out to be nicer people.

Nicer how? More honest and humble than their older and younger siblings.

So they scored highly on the Hs? They did. And, according to Hexaco, high honesty-humility scorers “avoid manipulating others for personal gain, aren’t tempted to break rules, aren’t interested in lavish wealth or luxuries, feel no special entitlement …”

Just wondering how Mark Zuckerberg, who has older and younger sisters, fits in to this, with his private jet and his yacht and his newfound aversion to factchecking? Obviously there will be exceptions. Anyway, back to the survey: middle children also scored highly on agreeableness.

Meaning? According to Hexaco, they forgive the wrongs they’ve suffered, are lenient in judging others, willing to compromise and cooperate, can control their temper …

Now I’m thinking about Kendall Roy … Jeremy Strong’s character in Succession? For one thing, he’s not a real person, and for another, as already mentioned, there will be exceptions!

Does size of family come into it? Scores were particularly high on honesty-humility and agreeableness for middle children in families with lots of children.

Why’s that? The study’s authors write that it is possibly because “when one has more siblings, one must more frequently cooperate rather than act on selfish preferences. This ongoing situation might then promote the development of cooperative tendencies generally.”

Interesting, but I wonder … Stop it! Before you tell me Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a middle child in a big family.

Do say: “I wonder if being a middle child contributed to Martin Luther King Jr’s selfless drive to end injustice through peaceful protest.”

Don’t say: “Yeah, but what about those Kardashians?”