Exploring the lived experience of being the youngest child: king of the castle or dirty wee rascal?; a phenomenological inquiry into the experience of being the youngest child and how this might have impacted and influenced adult life
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- Title
- Exploring the lived experience of being the youngest child: king of the castle or dirty wee rascal?; a phenomenological inquiry into the experience of being the youngest child and how this might have impacted and influenced adult life
- Creator
- Gillian Landsberg
- Date
- 2014
- Abstract
- This research study focuses on the lived experience and the resultant impact and influences in adulthood, of being the youngest child. Historically, psychotherapy has focussed on the importance of the parent/child relationship, often leaving the sibling relationship relatively unexplored. This study makes a significant contribution, given the paucity of research on the direct experience of the impacts of birth order for individuals, whilst simultaneously there is an increasing interest in the topic. It is estimated that some 80% of the world's population has at least one sibling (Caspi, 2011) and this relationship is quite possibly the longest and most enduring in an individual's life. This research potentially offers psychotherapists some rich material to help uncover the impact on a youngest child of his or her sibling relationships. The research methodology adopted for this dissertation is Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, following Smith et al's (2009) approach. The research explores the experience of being the youngest child, how it might affect the development of an individual and what is the experience of the impact of sibling relationships on our adult life. The findings from the research point out the drawbacks as well as the advantages of being the youngest, the complexity of the sibling bond, the burden of expectation and the difference to the experience that gender creates. The main conclusions drawn are that it is a more mixed experience than is popularly conceived and that birth order and, specifically, being the youngest is one factor amongst many which can have a lasting impact into adulthood. This dissertation recommends that further in depth exploration be conducted in this area, particularly with all members of a family and that working with siblings is given more prominence in psychotherapy training and practice.
- Subject
- Youngest child|Sibling rivalry||
- Psychotherapy and Counselling
- Extent
- 105 pages
- Format
- Publisher
- Regent's University London
- degree
- MA in Psychotherapy and Counselling
- Language
- English
- Date Issued
- 2014
- Type
- Thesis & Dissertation
- Rights Holder
- Regent's University London & Gillian Landsberg
- Item sets
- Theses or Dissertation