If you’re planning on having a second child or if you are a second child (or a first with an oldest-child’s complex), you might look at things a little differently after reading this.

A study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has taken a look at the relationship between birth order and delinquency and found some pretty interesting results.

Study children from Denmark and Florida, the study found that “in families with two or more children, second-born boys are on the order of 20 to 40 percent more likely to be disciplined in school and enter the criminal justice system compared to first-born boys even when we compare siblings.”

The scientists behind the study found that the parental time investments were lower for later-born children than first-born, the latter of which were supervised more and thus displayed fewer risky behaviours.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bf78fbfHvYq/?taken-by=bubzwonderland

The study focused primarily on boys but of the few girls that were included in the study, it was found that “second-born girls have higher delinquency compared to first-born sisters.”

In comparison, second-born girls in boy-girl pairs had lower delinquency levels than first-born girls.

A lot of this behaviour stems from the amount of care and attention given to only children by their parents. The study found that “the firstborn child experiences extra maternal attention when very young and again when the second-born child is born.”

So if you’re a second child who likes to cause a little bit of trouble, you can blame it on science.

Cover image via @fashionfairy.az – Bubz Wonderland