The firstborn in a family are more likely to be entrepreneurs, according to several different pieces of research pulled together nicely by Katie Conrad over at Faux Pas for her post Birth Order and Business Success?

I tend to think there’s a trick to this research, because most of it redefines “first child” to include a lot more than just the first children. The study I’m most familiar with defines you as a first child if you are the first of either gender, or if there are five or more years between you and the next oldest. By that definition, four of our five children were firsts. There was the first, a girl; then the first boy, the third child. And the fourth and fifth, both girls, came seven and five years later, respectively. So only our second, of five, is not a first. I was one of four, but I was the only one who wasn’t first.

So at some point you have to start asking about the math. Between those nine children, for example, only two aren’t first children. That’s 2/9, or only 22 percent, that aren’t first children, leaving 78 percent as firsts. That example makes it much less intriguing that firstborns seem to achieve more. There are just plain more of them.

Say what? Still, it’s interesting stuff. And a reminder, as well, that research and statistics are always suspect.

Meanwhile, I’m still rooting for Katie to get her consignment business going. It’s been interesting to follow that on her blog; she’s still not over some setbacks, but I’m still following it with interest.