There Might Actually Be Some Science Behind Eldest Daughter Syndrome
Growing as the oldest brother, writer YL WOLFE He usually felt that the lines between his role and his mother’s role were blurred.
“When my younger brother was almost 11 years old, I was drowned with feelings of responsibility for his welfare.
“I didn’t think my mother was not competent – but I felt more both of them Responsible for the family to this point of my life, ”he explained.
Is the “eldest girl syndrome” a real thing? A new study rely on it. Through Katiuscia Noseda Getty Images
In other words, Wolfe is deeply familiar with “The eldest girl’s syndrome.” Internet tent Thoughts About the status of the oldest girls and tweets How – I can also reveal my prejudice here – I need to trade: ız If you are the older brother and also a girl, you can have the right to financial compensation ” A woman joked x, Platform previously known as Twitter.
Although the elder eldest girl syndrome ”is a pop psychology term, you cannot find it listed as an official diagnosis in-DSM-V-a new study suggests that there may be more science than previously thought in false syndrome.
Research team led by Los Angeles University of California was found In certain cases, first born girls tend to mature earlier, It allows their mother to help their little siblings to pull back.
In particular, the researchers found a correlation between early symptoms of adrenal adolescence and mothers who had a high level of prenatal stress.
Why age adrenal puberty Subject? Changes in the skin (eg acne) and body hair occur at this stage, but there are changes in brain development. It is believed that adrenal puberty processes promote social and cognitive changes; Basically, superficial physical changes are associated with emotional maturity.
Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook, who is one of the common writers of the study and a professor of psychology at the University of California, is the best adaptable for his daughter to mature more quickly.
“He gives the mother an earlier ‘nest’, helping women keep the last offspring alive in difficult environments,” he said.
Researchers, when the times are difficult and mothers are stressful during pregnancy, the mother’s best -adaptable attention to her daughter’s social maturation more quickly, he said. Layland Masuda through Getty Images
In particular, it does not include adrenal adolescence breast development or the onset of menstruation for girls (or testicular expansion in boys). If girls do not have their own children physically, they will mature mentally enough to look at their young siblings, which naturally remove them from their responsibilities.
In the case of this kind, the brothers seemingly came out of the hook. parenting: Researchers could not find the same result in the first born boys or girls.
Hahn-Holbrook, “This effect in the first born children in the first born children, one reason is that boys’ direct child care can be less frequent than girls, so mothers have a less adaptable incentive to accelerate their social pubertal development,” he said.
In addition, previous research shows that female puberty timing can be more beaten than men in response to early life experiences.
The results of this study, Posted in February issue For a long time, psychoneörendocrinology (telling that it was fast or just once) was coming for a long time: the researchers followed their families from the stage of pregnancy to the young years of babies.
Researchers hired women from two obstetric clinics in Southern California during their first routine Trimester prenatal visits. On average, women were 30 years old and pregnant with a child, not twins.
It was the first pregnancy for the roughly half of the participants. Women did not smoke and did not use steroid medications, tobacco, alcohol or other entertainment drugs during pregnancy. They were all over 18 years old.
In five different stages of pregnancy, women’s stress, depression and anxiety levels were measured and then cumulatively measured. While depression assessment asked women to rating the truth of expressions such as “I felt lonely ,, the question of anxiety asked how often they felt certain symptoms such as“ tense ”.
48% of children born in these mothers were female and 52% were male.
As children get older, the characteristics of adrenal and gonadal adolescence were measured separately – body hair, skin changes, height or growth increases, breast development and the beginning of menstruation in women and facial hair growth in men.
The study also measured distress in childhood to explain other factors known to be associated with adolescence or adolescence in children, for example, the death of a parent or divorce before the age of 5 and the absence of a father and economic uncertainties at the age of 7-9 years.
Taking into account all of this, they were the greatest mature girls of the fastest mature when their mothers had a high level of prenatal stress.
Other studies show that there are some returns in some life for the biggest girls in charge: A study conducted in 2014, the greatest girls Probably successful A study conducted in 2012 from any type of brother, the largest born Leadership roles are more likely to keep the roles.
“This is fascinating to look through the first example of its species and an evolutionary lens, Mol said Molly Fox, one of the common writers of UCLA anthropologist and the study. Renata angerrami getty Images
The findings apply to Wolfe, the above -mentioned author, who says that he feels like a second mother to his growing brothers.
“I’m not surprised at what the work found,” Wolfe said. “My story is a little different – 12 years old, not only adrenal adolescence, but I have passed through real puberty, but I suspect that I had an early cognitive maturation.”
The study is interesting for another reason: the findings contribute to increasing the increasing understanding of social scientists. fetal programmingA fascinating field of study, which investigates stress and other emotional and environmental factors during pregnancy, affects their children long after birth.
“This is fascinating to look through the first example of its species and an evolutionary lens, Mol said Molly Fox, one of the common writers of the UCLA anthropologist and the work.
In an interview with HuffPost, Fox deepened how fetal programming works.
“A fascinating theory is that when you are still a fetus in your mother’s womb, you can take clues about how the world will be, and to adjust the shape of your life cycle in a flexible way so that your body is most suitable for the conditions you expect to meet.”
FOX and its joint writers are excited that the public works for the public to read after following their families for a long time. The fact that the findings were published as a cultural speech about their eldest daughters was only a cherry on top for Fox, especially the biggest girl. (He’s a twin.)
Orum As the oldest, I think it is a special role in any family because of its proximity to my mother and the capacity to help my little brothers look at, ”he said.
He was spoken like a real eldest girl.
