How do you calculate the distance if after the kids move out, the parents move far away? The family home was south of L.A. Three kids moved to Ohio, Air Force*, and Louisiana. I’m skipping a few moves, but we ended up with me in northern California (350 miles from ‘home’), parents in Idaho (46.2N), and 2 in New York and Louisiana.
I know it’s possible for people to live farther apart and still be in the lower 48, but they’d have to work at it.
To me, home=the home they moved out of when leaving the parents.
I’m not sure what your point meant, sorry if it came off blunt. I didn’t intend to insult.
We here on the SDMB can give you some data points but I don’t see how it can be used to support or defeat your hypothesis. Real world studies, with controls and deep analysis, have produced only thin results.
I guess I don’t see what anecdotes do for you, since I don’t think there’s any way to use them in any meaningful manner. The data are going to be hopelessly contradictory.
I taught in the same school for over a decade, so I saw a ton of sibling groups come through. I never saw any sort of pattern based on birth order. Whatever impact birth order may have, I think it’s drowned out by the much stronger influences of temperament and chance.
My elder daughter is currently at a university about an hour’s drive from the home where she grew up, and where her mother and sister still live. That is in California. Her younger sister, who is in her senior year of high school, has long been determined to go to a university on the east coast.
My brother and I moved out about the same time, and he is 2 years older.
I moved to a house in the same neighborhood as my parents, that I bought. He moved in with his wife (then girlfriend) in the next town over. Being that he didn’t move far enough to “be far away” I would suggest that we both stayed close. I just happened to only be able to afford a house right here!
I do end up “taking care” of the parent more but they’re only in their early 60s so they’re ok. I am actually pushing my brother to do more for them because they watch his two kids 5-6 days a week. He actually does do more for them now.
For what it’s worth, my older brother is outgoing, somewhat unreliable and not ambitious. I’m shy, hard working and reliable to a fault. Backwards of what StusBlues list shows (but he also says it’s easy to find counterpoints like us.)
Location of family of origin: a Great Lakes state
Location of oldest sibling in combined family: Colorado (but is now back in the hometown)
Location of youngest sibling: Florida
Location of oldest blood/bio sibling (both parents the same): 1 hour away from hometown
In my case, I took a look at how my older sister was living and decided I wanted no part of that area. Some of this relates to education level: I have a college degree and she does not, so that translates in to what opportunities are available where. In the case of the oldest step-sibling, he didn’t necessarily choose to live in CO; he was stationed there in the Air Force. So military enlistment will have a lot to do with tearing your hypothesis all to shreds.
The two of us kids who moved out of state, or country in my case, were neither the oldest or the “baby.”
It’s working out the exact opposite in my family, but so are a lot of things. My sister is the impatient one who has to get things done.
Sis wants to move a big city, which means far away from here. I never really liked the idea of cities and enjoy a simpler life, so I figured I might as well stick around here. Trying to move to a different small town is hard.
There’s “pop psychology” and there is the study of the psychology of people in family groups. It’s an interesting subject.
This certainly happened in my family, though we’re all staying within ~400 miles of home, for college at least.
I went to one of the largest schools in the nation, with ~52,000 students. My younger brother goes to a school with ~15,000 students, and our younger sister hasn’t decided for sure yet, but has narrowed it down to one with ~9,000 students or one with ~2,000 students.
Well that was easy enough! 
I think we’re done here.
Hi ambi! I know threads don’t get “locked” anymore, but this certainly could be.
Exactly what I think. The differences will be larger than any pattern you’ll find. Especially considering that, as the thread already shows, “moving away” is not a permanent state.
I moved away to Brazil, then moved to university after that. Now I’m living on the same river as my parents, just 3.4 miles upstream. Hopefully I’ll be in Angola soon!
My middle sister left home for Ecuador, but didn’t stay long. She came home for university. She just moved back in with my parents as she sorts things out with my BIL.
The baby sis is now travelling in Asia, but she wants to live in Japan awhile. Her other option is Edinburgh uni, so she might be medium far or very far depending on what’s next in her life.
Found any pattern yet? 