A study revealed that the birth order of a person may not predict personality. But it may reveal something about one's health. This is just one topic of interest about birth order that has been talked about for more than a hundred years. What can birth order predict and what speculations about it were not proven until now? German researchers conducted a new study on the effects of birth order on personality traits recently which was published in PNAS. According to Medical Daily, the effects of birth order to personality are much smaller than we expected.

In the study, the traits highlighted are the most common ones. For example, first born children will grow up to be a strong and be perfectionists, the middle child who is always the one being left out will develop a sense of diplomacy and the third, usually the spoiled and rebel.

According to Time, the traits that are usually related to IQ came from an earlier research that shows the oldest child gets the highest score on intelligence tests. However, this July the researchers discovered that it had minimal effect on personality and IQ while conducting the biggest study on the matter to date.

Researchers found that personality traits like emotional stability and being extrovert are not influenced and affected by their birth order. First borns get higher self-intellect results than other siblings. Their answers showed wide vocabulary and they understood abstract ideas better.

If the birth order doesn't determine the personality, what does it determine then? According to some, it may still say a lot about future health outcomes. For example, a study published in JAMA Ophthalmology relates that first born children tend to be nearsighted. Two separate studies have also suggested that first born girls are more likely to be obese. According to some experts, the middle child is often more successful than others. They are independent, creative and always eager to please others.

Finally, a Swedish study conducted in 2014, showed that 18 percent of the youngest child is much more likely to commit suicide than first-borns. This theory needs to be studied more but this data is still important and being considered part of a further study.