GDC Week 7: Photonovel Topic: Outsider

In the Middle.

Let’s talk about the middle child. The second-born, the second eldest, the second youngest. But makes them so special? And how are they included as an outsider?

Let’s talk about psychologically, there’s a term called “Middle Child Syndrome”, where the child that was born in the “middle” of the birth order. And that society perceived them as neglected, excluded, and even unacknowledged. But, will this action cause any personality changes? It seems so, according to Alfred Adler’s theory “The Relationship of Birth Order and Gender with Academic Standing and Substance Use Among Youth in Latin America”, that the middle child will tend to be more well-mannered but also having a hard time feeling like they belong. (Werner, n.d.) Still, it’s just a theory.

The perception given by the middle child is that they don’t stand out as much as their siblings, which also means that their parents are most likely to focus on the 2 children’s needs rather than the middle child. As told by Dr Catherine Salmon:

"There's a natural tendency to think, if they're in the middle, then they're not remarkable, so they're not going to stand out, and they're going to get ignored."

Dr. Catherine Salmon, (Dodgson,2017)

A sitcom called the Brady Brunch which also tackles the Middle Child problem in some episodes.

Even so, the middleborn are usually neglected, they’d also learn to be more independent and do things themselves without anyone helping them. To many people, they are understanding children but to them, they felt like they hadn’t had any choice but to do it. The second point is even though they’re being neglected, it doesn’t mean they don’t fight for the attention they yearn, which comes to another characteristic, envy. Even if they rarely get compared, they still know they will never be as good as their siblings, that also means they are least likely to think of themselves as the favored one in the family. (Werner, n.d.)

Some other characteristics of the middle child.

So I would like to focus on the issue that the middle child has to go through things themselves, happy or sad, they can only depend on themselves.

References:

Carly Werner, (n.d.), Birth Order and Personality: The Science Behind Middle Child Syndrome, healthline.

https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/middle-child-syndrome

Lindsay Dodgson, (2017, 18 January), 'Middle child syndrome' doesn't actually exist — but it still might come with some surprising psychological advantages, Business Insider.

https://www.businessinsider.com/middle-child-syndrome-psychology-myth-2017-1