Professor Frank Sulloway Wrote about a Theory Called "Niche Theory" Regarding How You Will Grow Up Based on Your Siblings

My best summary of Family Niche-Theory is as follows:
  • OLDEST and ONLY children grow up as they were meant to because they don't have to compete with any other siblings to find their "niche."
  • You may not be an OLDEST or an ONLY, but if your older siblings are more than 5 or 6 years older, you won't compete with them (because they would always win) and you will therefore grow up as you were meant to.
  • If you have older siblings who are within 5 or 6 years of your age, you will compete with them in various ways.  If you are better than them in a certain way, you will fill that niche.  If they are better than you in a certain way, they will fill that niche.  But you both generally cannot fill the same niche unless competition between siblings is eliminated by agreement of those siblings.
  • YOUNGEST or MIDDLE children may have to compete with several siblings to find their niche, so they may be required to fill a niche that isn't one that they were intended to fill since they competed for the preferred niches and lost.
Examples:
  • Two (or more) siblings who are close in age compete to be the "smartest" in the family.  If someone wins consistently enough, the other child may stop competing (and may actually rebel) and therefore start performing poorly academically.
  • If two siblings who are eight years apart try to be smart, they often won't compete due to the large age difference.  Instead, they are likely to work together.  The end result is often that both children end up being smart and they each fill their natural niche.
  • Once a child is determined to have filled a niche (Monique is "the smart one" in the family), the other siblings will often stop trying to fill that niche.
This Power Point was found online by doing a Google Search for:
Sulloway "niche theory"