Do you have siblings? Where do you fall in line in terms of birth order? Are you the oldest? The middle? The slip up - I mean - the youngest?

When it comes to siblings, you can usually tell who is who. The oldest will often take the lead and usually boss the other siblings around. The middle child usually acts as the peacekeeper and the mediator of the family. The baby of the family is usually the free spirit and the risk-taker of the bunch. 

New research suggests that second-born children may stand out for some negative reasons as well. A recent study shows that second born children tend to be the biggest trouble makers of the bunch. A report from Joseph Doyle, an MIT economist, finds that second-borns (particularly boys) are more likely to cause mischief and be rebellious. 

"The firstborn has role models, who are adults. And the second, later-born children have role models who are slightly irrational two-year-olds, you know, their older siblings," Doyle told NPR.

So they can blame are older siblings for their bad behavior? 

Well, not exactly. It may also have a little something to do with how much attention they get from their parents.

 "Both the parental investments are different, and the sibling influences probably contribute to these differences we see in the labor market and what we find in delinquency. It's just very difficult to separate those two things because they happen at the same time."

Doyle and his colleagues studied thousands of sets of brothers in the both the United States and Europe. In their research, they found that first borns would get their parents undivided attention. Children who were born after them however, would have to fight to get that attention.

Even when they got the attention they were looking for, they still had to share it with their older sibling.

The study found that 25 to 40 percent of second siblings were more likely to get in trouble, whether it was trouble at school or with the law.

But just because you were born first does not mean you will live a bossy and controlling life. Just because you were born second does not mean you are doomed to end up in jail. There are many people who don’t feel like they fit in with their birth order stereotype. 

 “Gender is a significant influence when it comes to the birth role that one develops within the family,” says Alan E. Stewart, Ph.D., who researches birth order at the University of Georgia.

Think about it. If the firstborn is a boy and he excels at everything he does, when another child, a little girl, comes along, she is going to compete with him much less than if their second child was a boy. The boy and the girl are already fundamentally different in so many ways so there won’t be as much rivalry and competition between the two of them. 

So, just because you were born second, doesn’t mean you are fated to end up a troublemaker. There are many factors can influence behavior and make us who we are today. But feel free to use it as an excuse if you want to be a rebel!