[AuntieKara]

Does being an only child make you more likely to be an N? And does having siblings make you an S? Or does it even make a difference?

Or are you like me? I grew up as an only child with my dad, but my mom has two other kids. (parents separated when I was born). So I am not technically an only child, but I grew up as one.

So really, if you grew up around other children around your age in the house, answer as if you had siblings. And if you have siblings but grew up like me, then answer as if you are an only child.

[Psychosmurf]

So far your hypothesis is 100% supported by the evidence.

Then again, only N's have responded.

[TARZAN]

I think another interesting thread to would be to find out if persons are N or S, and where they fall in the sibling line up....I'd guess many oldest children

-Will

[Jennywocky]

I'm just not convinced there's going to be much difference.

I'd just study the normal research on sibling order, see what traits are more common, and see if they fold into MBTI... but I don't really think birth order changes type -- it just layers on extra behaviors in themselves.

(For example, I'm the oldest sibling -- my sister is younger -- and I'm horrifically responsible, which you might be tempted to say is "SJ." I take my duties very seriously, even if I feel like they have been assigned unfairly to me and I've reached a big-picture, rational conclusion that I can and should set them aside. I'll do it now, but guilt can still linger. My INTP friend who is the third son in a family of four boys never seems to wrestle with guilt like I do, despite our both having totally the same assessment of situations we discuss. He just never had that burden laid on him, as he wasn't the oldest in his family.

So I just don't think type is the end-all, be-all of human behavior; the way we're raised and/or attached to our authority figures AKA parents growing up can instill a host of neuroses and emotional needs overtop normal personality.)

[nevermore]

I was an only child for two glorious years, and then he came along...

No seriously I have two younger brothers, who I saw and interacted with quite a bit. But it was mostly my ENTP grandmother who raised me up till about the age of 7, as my Sensor parents were both working and I stayed over at her place, going home on weekends. My younger siblings were "farmed out" to babysitters instead, so spent a lot of time along learning about languages, history, chess strategies, philosophy, mathematics, and other NT-ish subjects from her. If there is any non-genetic influence to type at all, which I somewhat doubt, that was surely it for me. I was inundated with her NTP-ness and ended up taking it on, I guess. But that didn't have to do with me being a pseudo only child, I don't think. Our similar types probably bespoke similar genetics...a simpler explanation than the way I was raised or even that I was raised by her.

Another problem is that since most people on this board are N's and that most people have siblings (or at least did up till recently...don't know with the low birth rate now) N with siblings will probably win by a landslide.

[gemofgreen]

I'm not convinced of a connection either, but I'm an N and a sister. My brother is six years younger, and also an N. One of my good friends, an N, has two older brothers. Another good friend is an S, and a brother to an older sister; my dad an S and brother to a younger sister; another friend an S and sister to a younger brother. One of my friends is an only child and she is an S. My mom has about 5000 siblings, and she scored literally smack down the middle on all four temperaments.

[absent air]

I am N but my twin is S :0

[PhoebeJaspe]

I'm an N and my sibling is an N.

[Neon Knight]

Does being an only child make you more likely to be an N? And does having siblings make you an S? Or does it even make a difference?

Or are you like me? I grew up as an only child with my dad, but my mom has two other kids. (parents separated when I was born). So I am not technically an only child, but I grew up as one.

So really, if you grew up around other children around your age in the house, answer as if you had siblings. And if you have siblings but grew up like me, then answer as if you are an only child.

Almost exactly the same situation, switch mother and father that's it, proud sensor over here :) Almost all in the family are sensors, just one isn't if I'm not mistyping father.

[MCRTS]

I'm an ISFJ and I'm an only child. There are my parents and myself in my family.