“By the time my youngest brother was born when I was almost 11, I was overwhelmed with feelings of responsibility for his welfare.
I used to sit by his crib and watch him sleep just to make sure he was safe,” Wolfe, the oldest of four, told HuffPost.
“It wasn’t that I thought my mother wasn’t competent ― but more that I felt we were both responsible for the family by that point in my life,” she explained.
Though “eldest daughter syndrome” is a pop psychology term ― you won’t find it listed as an official diagnosis in the DSM-V ― a new study suggests that there may be more science to the pseudo-syndrome than previously thought.
Specifically, the researchers found a correlation between early signs of adrenal puberty in first-born daughters and their mothers having experienced high levels of prenatal stress.
Why does age of adrenal puberty matter?
Changes in skin (acne, for instance) and body hair happen during this phase, but so do changes in brain development.
Adrenal puberty processes are believed to foster social and cognitive changes; basically, superficial physical changes correlate with emotional maturity.
“It gives mom a ‘helper-at-the-nest’ sooner, aiding the women in keeping the latter offspring alive in difficult environments,” she said.
As the eldest child, author Y. L. Wolfe frequently felt that her mother’s and her own roles were overlapping.
“I was overcome with feelings of responsibility for my youngest brother’s welfare by the time he was born, when I was almost eleven years old. As the eldest of four children, Wolfe recalled sitting by his crib and watching him sleep to make sure he was secure.
“My mother and I felt like we were both in charge of the family at that point in our lives, not that my mother wasn’t capable,” the woman clarified. As though I were a real ‘other mom,’ instead of a big sister. “.
Stated differently, Wolfe has a great deal of experience with the “eldest daughter syndrome”. Thinkpieces about the predicament of oldest daughters and tweets advocating for unionization are widely available on the internet. One woman on X, the former Twitter platform, made the following joke: “If you are the oldest sibling and also a girl you may be entitled to financial compensation.”.
While “eldest daughter syndrome” is a term from popular psychology, it is not recognized as an official diagnosis in the DSM-V. However, a recent study indicates that the pseudo-syndrome may have more scientific basis than previously believed.
A research team led by the University of California, Los Angeles discovered that first-born daughters can sometimes mature earlier, allowing them to assist their mother in raising their younger siblings.
More specifically, the researchers discovered a link between first-born daughters’ early adrenal puberty symptoms and their mothers’ high levels of prenatal stress.
Changes in skin (acne, for example) and body hair occur during this phase, but so do changes in brain development, which is why the age of adrenal puberty matters. It is thought that social and cognitive changes are facilitated by adrenal puberty processes; in other words, outward physical changes are correlated with emotional development.
One of the study’s co-authors, Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of California, Merced, stated that it is in the mother’s adaptive best interest for her daughter to socially mature at a quicker pace when times are hard and mothers are stressed during pregnancy.
“It helps moms keep their later offspring alive in challenging circumstances by providing them with a ‘helper-at-the-nest’ sooner,” the woman explained.
