Have any Siblings?

[DexM]

I have two older brothers. There is an age gap of 4 years between us. Brother A. is one of the most exceptional human beings you will ever encounter. A rock for me in my darker days, he has seen me in situations that no brother should ever have to witness. Funny to almost impossible levels, dedicated, fiercely loyal, inspirational and a key player in me still being around. I love him.

Brother J. was my hero growing up. He was a game keeper for a year or two and I saw that job as being the most important, coolest and must have job in the world. He's also responsible for my big nephew and that I could quite easily wax lyrical about that fella in his own thread. Unfortunately Bro.J. wasn't as supportive as A and a rift developed for 6 years that nearly tore the family apart. Happily it has been resolved and although the bond isn't as strong as it once was I no longer feel the need to punch his lights out and because of that I have had the complete pleasure of getting to safely bond with my little nephew .

[Alphaprocess]

I'm actually an only child but my dad remarried when I was a teenager so I acquired a sister and a brother, both older than me. I don't see my (step-) brother very much but my (step-) sister and I are fairly close. We chat on the phone usually once a week since I moved up here. She has two children (both now in their late teens) who I also get on with well. I am not quite sure how the next of kin thing works but I usually list her as mine though my stepmother has said that she is my next of kin (but she is getting on a bit in years so wouldn't want to bother her with that kind of thing).

[Vyanni Krace]

I am the eldest, but my little sister likes to act like she is simply because she had to look after me a bit and watch out for me when I was younger and much less in control of my autism.

She takes great joy in tormenting and bullying me.

[cliffrose]

I have two sisters, one is almost 10 and the other is almost 4. I get along with my 4 year old sister because she's cute and too young to be really annoying yet, but my 10 year old sister and I fight all the time. She's always trying to get into the stuff I like, but our mum hates the stuff I like because she believes it doesn't agree with her religion (i.e. she won't let me put on the Powerpuff Girls, nor am I allowed to let her read Harry Potter). I treat her worse than I really should, and I think I use her to take out my stress and I really shouldn't. I'm a pretty terrible older sister. Maybe one day I'll be able to fix that.

[ArtemisLiCa]

My answer is kind of complicated. My gut reaction to the poll, and the one I went with in answering, is that I have one younger sister (8 years younger). However, I have three half sisters and three half brothers (all much older) through my father. As my father and all of his other children have never really been a part of my life I don't really count them. My sister has a different father which technically makes her my half sister, but I would never call her that. She's my sister, period. And before my mother's previous husband past away I counted his two sons as my brothers as they'd been a part of my life for over ten years. After three years without contact with them, sadly that feeling of family connection with them has faded.

As for my sister, given that we are in different stages of our lives and are pretty different in personality I wouldn't say we are really close. That said, we can get into arguments and within an hour (most of the time) we are completely over it. We never stay mad at each other. One thing we do love to do together is watch horror movies in the middle of the night. :D

[Striped Sweater]

Ahh! I voted in the poll like forever ago, but I forgot to actually say something.

I have a brother who's older than me by four years. Despite the age gap, we did a lot of the same things together. We watched the same shows and movies and even hung out with the same people. If either one of us had friends over, the other one of us was always invited to join in. We got along really well for the most part too. And as a result of all that, we're basically the same person. Ever since he started college (jeez, that seems like forever ago...I guess it kind of was!), I haven't had much chance to see him. But even so, as soon as we get together, we get right back into our groove of lame jokes and stupid puns. It's great.

[Mezzo Forte]

Ever since he started college (jeez, that seems like forever ago...I guess it kind of was!), I haven't had much chance to see him. But even so, as soon as we get together, we get right back into our groove of lame jokes and stupid puns. It's great.

That's how my twin and I are once we're together between semesters. Especially the puns (we tell people that we were wombmates). It's nice having similar social circles too, which must have been interesting with the age gap.

[That_Girl_With_Red_Hair]

I'm the eldest of two. My younger sister is almost nine years younger then me and we are quite close even though I'm much older then her and parts of our personalities are very different. For the most part we bond over our few similar traits and our likes.

[Elnae]

Apologies for anyone reading this who has already read my many brother related rants, feel free to skip it.

I have one "brother" who is 3 years older than me. We always fought as kids but were also close and when we hit our late teens and twenties, I counted him among my closest friends, we were in the same social circle and my friends (one an only child and one not at all close with her own older brother) recently told me they were always envious of our relationship, we could talk about anything and the one event which stands out above any other was my Nanna's funeral when I was breaking my heart crying and he held my hand in church and kept hold of my hand while we walked the grave to see her buried. :(

Then something happened to him, he had a dramatic and sudden personality transplant and nobody knows why. He is no longer the person he was and we barely speak at all now, even though we still both live at home with our parents. He unceremoniously quit his very well paid computer job about 10 years ago, didn't work at all for over 5 years expecting my parents to support him financially, dumped all his genuine friends or found imaginary reasons to fall out with them and started hanging around with very questionable people, bringing random strangers home, treating our home like some sort of unofficial commune, exhibiting signs of sociopathic traits and having little or no respect for any of our feelings.

Then 2 years ago, he had what he has described as a psychotic episode (we've since discovered it was drug induced) and he began verbally abusing me at any given opportunity, it was like I couldn't even breathe without him attacking me, on 2 occasions my Dad actually stood in front of me because he believed my brother was going to hit me. The last straw was when we had yet another row over something trivial and he sent me a long rambling letter in which he said some truly horrible and heartbreaking things which he can never take back. That was the beginning of the end for me. I can no longer allow myself to forgive him. I will not put myself in a position to be hurt by him again. Can't do it, won't do it.

[EdenRose]

I have a younger brother, but as far as I remember I cannot stand his compagny too long. As long as we don't see each other we like each other, but he has a character that nobody can stand. I also have a much younger half sister, 15 years younger, I don't really know her, don't feel the need to. I am way much closer from my cousins than my siblings.

[ponz]

I have 3 older sisters, they're about 8, 6 and 2 years older than me.

I'm different because....

1. I'm on the autism spectrum, which makes me quirky

2. I'm not obsessed about my appearance

3. I plan to help others and make an impact on the world (however small it may be)

4. I have asthma and allergies (they don't have either)

5. I see our "family," it's issues, self issues etc clearly; meaning I've confronted my past and am dealing with it. They suppress and ignore their true emotions

6. I don't need to be constantly surrounded by friends

7. I enjoy mentally stimulating activities like trivia, discussions, debates, learning, puzzles etc; they like to drink, party and bake cupcakes (that's oy 1 of my sisters)

8. My baby book isn't complete ;~;

My oldest sis is 31, lives with my parents and has a 10 year old niece that she neglects emotionally.

My 28 (almost 29) year old sis, whom I call "the golden child," is happily married, owns a home, has a masters in art education, and regularly participates in art shows

My 24 (25 in 6 months) year old sis is bipolar, has an apartment and tends to get into bad relationships (she's very needy and can get dramatic, so these douchey guys end up dumping her.)

I'm 22, live with my parents and I'm focusing on fixing my physical health so I can move out. ^__^

[K!m]

I have 2 siblings: a sister and a brother. I'm the youngest. My sister's 21, 5 years older than me, and my brother's 18, a year and a half older than me (I'm 16). We get along on most days. We all live under the same roof, and we like to laugh a lot. My sis and I text/message/tweet each other sometimes even when we're both in the house. She's the most responsible, independent and mature (though she's usually child-like in a good way. She also used to bully me when I was little, but that's over now), and perhaps the best one. She can make a pretty good mom to my brother and I. By that I mean she can handle us and make us feel better than our actual mom can sometimes because she's cool, calm & collected and mom isn't. My brother on the other hand has slightly severe autism, and I'm sorry to say this, but he can be quite a pain. It's just that I run out of patience for him after a while of having to clean up after him every time he makes a mess (and he's pretty messy), making him stop running around while being noisy, etc. But still, he somehow keeps me grounded ("down-to-earth" grounded, not punished). Also, I absolutely hate it when we're out in public and people stare at him like he's some criminal. It really pisses me off.

As I mentioned before, I'm the youngest. However, I have middle child syndrome. Technically, my brother's mentally younger than me, and gets more attention than I do. I'm not really jealous at all; I'm fine with not having as much attention because I understand that he has more needs, so I'm not sure what caused me to have middle child syndrome. I just know that I have 9 out of 10 symptoms of it.

By the way, those 2 are just my "full" siblings and the only ones I've met. I have 2 step-siblings who are the sons of my step-dad and his significant other (not my mom 'coz they're separated but still technically married). The younger son's my age, and the older's my sister's age, I think. Recently, my step-dad got a young woman pregnant, so make that 3 step-siblings. We have no connections, except for the younger son who added me on Facebook. We don't talk or do anything at all though. I also have 3 half siblings who are the children of my dad and his wife (again, not my mom. My mom's the secret third party...). They're all in their 20s, and none of them know I exist.

Other than that, my mom reckons she had quite a few miscarriages before giving birth to my sister and after giving birth to me.

Bottom line, I have at least 2 full siblings, 3 step-siblings, 3 half siblings, and a grand total of at least 8 siblings, but I answered only 2 and that I'm the youngest.

[ithaca]

What kind of relationship do you have with your siblings?

I mostly get along with my sis, while my brother and I don't really have a relationship.

Is there a significant age gap between you and any of your siblings?

No. My brother is 13 months older than me, and my sister is 21 months younger.

How similar/different do you feel you are from your siblings?

We couldn't be any more different.

[Janus the Fox]

Just the one and I'm the eldest in realation. A good 8 year gap and total opposites between us. <_<

[Blomdor]

One elder brother, who I love more than words can express and who is easily the human being I am closest to.

We get along so well that I could hardly imagine life without him. We cover each other's weaknesses and stick together through everything. I would feel much more alone without him. He is more than a brother, he is one of the steadiest anchors in my existence, and a reason for me to keep going when otherwise I would be sorely tempted not to. I don't know how much farther I can go without getting incredibly cheesy on you (if I haven't already). I *love* him, absolutely and unshakably.

It's not to say we've never argued. I was an annoying little idiot once. He went through a hyper-cynical stand-offish phase. You know, the teen years. Sometimes we got on each other's nerves. Overall, though, you could not ask for a more stable and loving relationship.

We are very, very different. Opposites in some ways. Neither of us are really well-balanced, but if you put us together we make a surprisingly functional whole.

[pickles.]

I'm fourth of six kids. The oldest and youngest are only nine years apart. Squish!

I'm very close to my younger brother (the baby of the family), and not close at all with my older brother. My relationships with my three sisters fall somewhere in-between.

I loved growing up in a big family, even though we were somewhat on the dysfunctional side.

[Purple Heart]

One older brother by about 3 years. We don't get on. He's a disgusting, dishonest, short-tempered, pain in the backside :(

[Jockey]

I have four living younger brothers and one dead younger brother.

What kind of relationship do you have with your siblings?

My oldest younger brother is less than two years younger than me and we were friends for a number of years and competitors for a longer number of years. He was very very very clearly my mother's favorite, and my mother also made it pretty clear that she didn't like me, so.... that didn't make us very warm towards each other. That said, he's really my brother in the way that people think of it- we have a common background.

The next two are both very disabled (I have a milder version of the same condition) and because of that seem younger than their respective four and eight years younger than me. One of them, I am currently sharing an apartment with and taking care of. The other had a crisis recently and no longer even really recognizes me; in the last couple of months he hasn't enjoyed seeing me. I currently have more of the Bad Guy Parent relationship with both of them.

My baby brother is fourteen years younger than me and he is really like a son to me. I dropped out of high school in order to take care of him full time, and when he started preschool, I started college. By the time he started preschool, I had taught him to read. Today I took him to the beach and on the way home, somebody stopped us and asked us if he was my son. We said no, brothers. The very first time he was taken for my son was when he was a couple of weeks old and my mother and I took him to buy a crib; the saleslady called her grandma. I'm a parent figure for him.

My dead brother died the day he was born, but because he was one of my living brothers' identical twin, he's sort of more present in my imagination than he might otherwise be.

Is there a significant age gap between you and any of your siblings?

To the nearest year, they are 2, 4, 8 (and 8), and 14 years younger than me, and they are all my full siblings.

How similar/different do you feel you are from your siblings?

Well, all five of us are autistic spectrum, and three of the five of us have autoimmune disorders, and three of us are certified geniuses, so that's a lot right there. We also belong to a minority community that sort of gives us a bond of sorts. But I think I'm a lot different because I'm a responsible adult, and because I've been responsible for myself for a really long time. Also, I'm transgender, and have been out as such since early preschool, so that's been a big difference.

[ficgal]

Three older sisters.There's a pretty wide gap. I don't have a relationships with any of them. It's always been like we're on different planets and they moved out when I was still in elementary school.

[TripleA]

I grew up a only child, that is until my mom got knocked up a year ago. My baby bro's 16 years younger then me. And pure evil.

[Philip027]

For those of you who are only children, did someone who was not a sibling of yours play a similar role that a sibling might play? Did you particularly like or dislike being an only child?

Not really, no. And I was fine being an only child

[Blood-of-Cherries]

No siblings :(

[UghIHateThisPart]

My siblings have always been pretty non-existent in my life. My two older half brothers decided to disappear and cut contact with my family when I was a baby (they were in their late teens/early 20's). One of them randomly showed up one summer when I was eight and took me and my sister down to the ocean for a vacation... But when that was all said and done, he disappeared and I never heard from him again. Until this year actually (it was a pretty crazy situation, but my brothers ended up being there for my mother and I when we needed them most). My sister, on the other hand, has always been present... Yet it's never really felt like it (she's about three years older than me). We went a few years where we got along just fine, but that changed very rapidly when she was legally allowed to spend every night at the bar. Overall, I think my dog ended up playing a bigger role in my life. But who knows, there's still time for these things to change.

[Guest member25959]

Two sisters. One older and one younger... yay I'm the middle kid. I was closer to my younger sister when we all lived together, probably because there was less of an age gap between us

These days though, I'd say that my older sister is closer since my younger sister doesn't even look at me. My crippling and gradually worsening issues make it tricky to talk to my family. I dunno why, I can talk to people who don't know me, just not my family, I think that's because of my issues with past memories but that's another story

[Jockey]

It looks like we have a tendency to be eldest.

If birth order had no affect, then we would expect half of those with one sibling to be eldest (right now that's 97 said they had 1 sibling, and half of that is 48.5), one third of those with two siblings to be eldest (right now that's 58 with two siblings, and a third of that is 27.33333), one fourth of those with three siblings (14/4 = 3.5), one fifth of those with four siblings (5/5 = 1), for "more" siblings, it's less than one sixth so I'll just say 1/6, and that's 11/6 = 1.83333.

So the expected number of voters who would say that they were eldest is 48.5 + 27.33333 + 3.5 + 1 + 1.8333 = 81.16666

Instead of 81 though, we have 93.

Similarly, we expect 81 users to be youngest, and get a mere 54.

Anybody wanna figure the p value?

Edit: I did the math wrong above. 58 divided by 3 is 19.3333 not 27.333. That makes the observation considerably MORE statistically significant.

Adding in the more recent votes, the new "expected" number of eldests and youngests is 76 and 2/3, with an observed number of eldests being 99 and youngests a mere 54.

99/2 + 62/3 + 14/4 +5/5 + 12/6 = 76 and 2/3rds.

[mayve]

There is just me and my brother. I'm 2 years older.

[Mezzo Forte]

Anybody wanna figure the p value?

I would if I could remember information from my introductory statistics class I took my freshman year of college >.< Unfortunately, with this being a voluntary poll (or whatever the term is), the information could be a bit skewed, but it could be interesting on a theoretical level to see if asexuality is influenced by birth order, even if the only observable effects of birth order on sexuality/gender identity have been on right-handed males.

Anthony Bogaert DID do major research on birth order and homosexuality though, so who's to say that he wouldn't try to do official research on birth order and asexuality at some point down the line?

[unknown1234]

I have one brother who is 2 years younger then me. We disliked each other growing up. We fought a lot when our parents were around. As soon as they left we are ok to each other. We are completely different. I am an introvert, he is extrovert, dare devil, married with 3 kids. I never want kids or to get married. He is an athlete and I am a school nerd.

And now...we hardly talk. :(

[Uranium]

I have a now not-so-little brother who turns 12 in December. :) We're pretty much opposites, he's all sunshine and rainbows while I'm a big old grump, but we've always had a decent relationship. He does sometimes bug the hell out of me, and vice versa, but I couldn't wish for a better sibling.

My friend, on the other hand, has 3 older brothers (all young adults) and a four-year-old sister. Now that's what would drive me bonkers.

[cemeterywitch]

I have a half brother. We're 19 years apart. What a stupid idea.

My family tree is all messed up.