Birth order personalities measured through the adjective checklist and handwriting analysis

The birth order position one occupies in the family has an influence on the development of one's personality. While there is an abundance of research on birth order alone, no study of birth order has been conducted using two personality assessments: the Adjective Checklist and a handwriting sample. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to examine three birth order types: firstborns and only children, middle-borns, and last-borns as seen in two personality measures. Students in a large section of Sociology courses completed the Adjective Checklist and gave a handwriting sample as part of an experiment. The quantitative results performed; analysis of variance, reliability, and correlations, indicate that there were significant differences among the three birth order intervals on scales of self-confidence, lability, achievement, affiliation, and exhibition as seen through handwriting analysis.