An Exploration of Social Workers and Sibling Ordinal Position

Background

    It has been suggested that sibling birth order influences one’s personality, mate choice, occupational selection, and decision making strategies. Theorists posit that certain attributes are consistent by sibling role. First borns are believed to be on the conservative side and take on a protective and caretaking role for the sibling group, whereas later borns are thought to question the status quo and support radicalized change. Only children are thought to be high achievers and be more comfortable around adults than peers.

          During social work education, social workers are trained to reflect on diverse aspects of their own lives in order to identify potential biases that would affect their performance. Reflections often center on dynamics within one’s family of origin, but rarely consider sibling ordinal position. The influence of birth order on the choice of social work as a career or the choice of one’s primary level of practice (micro, mezzo, macro) is a new area of inquiry.  This study set out to explore social worker perspectives of the influence of their sibling role position on their lives, particularly in their career choice of social work. Our expectation was that first borns would engage primarily in micro level social work and later borns would occupy mezzo and macro practice, such as community organizing and advocacy.

Method

An electronic survey, largely based on the 2008 NASW Membership Workforce Study Survey, was distributed to social workers via national organizations via social networking sites. Survey items included demographic and social and occupational information. Qualitative open-ended items inquired about sibling ordinal roles and type of respondent social work practice. Two researchers independently coded responses to open ended items and then reached interpretive consensus on code assignments. Responses were summarized to address guiding research questions.  

Results

In all, 311 completed surveys were collected. Many of the surveyed social workers demonstrated characteristics consistent with birth order traits found in the literature. Interestingly, many first borns described practicing in traditional social work roles (micro or direct practice), whereas many later borns performed at the macro level of social work practice. Further, responses by sibling role reflected the foundational core values of the social work profession and behaviors that are consistent with the CSWE Competencies. Consistent parallels were demonstrated between responses by sibling role and practice behavior.

Conclusion

Schools of social work should include foci on social work students’ sibling role and how this may influence their future work. Sibling ordinal position may have an influence on the choice to become a social worker, as well as the level of social work practiced. The findings suggest value in a renewed line of inquiry regarding the relationship between sibling ordinal role and social work practice consistent with social work values and the CSWE Competencies. Further research is needed to decipher how birth order may influence service delivery when working with clients and client systems.