Eldest, youngest or in the middle? Which child is 'genuine, agreeable and fair', according to experts?

Christmas is often a time for family rows. But it seems you're less likely to get involved if you're a middle-born child.

For they are more inclined to be fair, genuine and agreeable than their siblings, according to a study.

Researchers examined whether personality traits are linked to birth order or how many siblings a person has.

More than 700,000 adults completed a questionnaire that assessed personality characteristics.

They found that first-born children were most likely to be open to new experiences, middle children displayed traits that made them more fair, genuine and sincere, and youngest children had more traits linked to emotion.

Researchers from the University of Calgary defined children 'middle-born' if they were not the first or last born among three or more siblings.

They also found that people with siblings were more likely to have cooperative traits, compared to only children.