Have you ever wanted to do something that someone had done? I am not talking about jealousy. I am talking about following in someone’s footsteps. Trying to become as successful as that person. That person is what we call a “role model”. Who is your role model?
According to the results of the Euromonitor International consumer survey, which was made in 2011, nearly 75% of the young population said that they see their parents and siblings as their role models. After that, friends as role models come with 50% and teachers comes with 35%. These results made some questions to pop up in some researchers’ minds. Is having someone under the age of 25 as your role model healthy? How does getting rejected by their role model affect teenagers’ mental health? How do having siblings as role models affect overall academic success?
The goal of this writing is to make clear the last question: The effects of having siblings as role models on academic success. As can be seen from the results of the surveys, accepting the people closest to them is popular among teenagers. This is because parents and siblings are there with you from the beginning. They walk alongside you in this path we call life. They help you choose the right way, get up when you fall or fail. As this happens, you observe them fall and get back up, how they manage to get over the obstacles, how they decide on something.
The idea of siblings having an effect on an individual’s academic success is one that does not seem out of the ordinary. The research done by four students of Cleveland State University shows that people who have siblings have a greater grade point average (GPA) than those with no siblings. They have written that they engaged college students with a survey, and recorded their GPA, as well as the number of siblings they have, if any. Their research also showed that people with two or more siblings had greater GPAs than those with one sibling or none. The average GPA of those with only one sibling was 2.83 on a 4.0 scale, and the average GPA for those with more than one sibling was 3.37 on a 4.0 scale.
To sum up, having siblings as role models help people academically. Even though it is hard to say it does, with the data gathered and with the examples we can observe in our daily life, we can say that having siblings helps an individual’s success and according to some factors its effects can be stronger or weaker.