Birth Order and Juvenile Delinquency

Psychologists have long studied the effects of birth order on a person's personality. Sigmund Freud, for example, believed that "the position of a child in the family order is a factor of extreme importance in determining the shape of his later life" (cited in Sulloway 1996: 468n).

The rest of social sciences, however, have been slower to accept such a sociobiological approach, preferring instead to explain social attitudes as a result of determinants like race, gender, age or class.

This paper examines whether this sociobiological approach holds true in the field of juvenile crime. Specifically, the paper examines whether birth order is a significant determinant in whether or not a young person commits crimes and in the rates of juvenile recidivism.

To examine this relationship, this paper takes an interdisciplinary approach to the issue of birth order and juvenile delinquency, drawing on diverse literature from...
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