Birth Order and Your Characters

Ever since I read an article about how the birth order of children affects their personality I've been analyzing my family and friends to see if their character traits reflect or refute the birth order characteristics. Since every one of us lines up somewhere it's kind of a fun checklist to see whether this is fact or fiction. And speaking of fiction, here's my question: do you consciously attribute your hero/heroine's personality characteristics to their birth order?

I know in the case of my novels, I've had a younger sister (with an older brother), an older sister (with a younger brother), an only female child, an older brother (with a much younger brother). I have yet to write about a character with more than one sibling. As I read through the list below I can see that I have attributed many of the characteristics of the Oldest and Youngest to my characters. Maybe I did it because I was aware of this birth order theory but I didn't consciously set out to write them as a 'type'. Goodness, I hope my characters have a little more complexity than that. However, I have to admit many of the traits listed below can be attributed to my firstborn and youngest siblings that I've created. I haven't written a middle child character yet but, from the list below, it would be an interesting character study. Middles seem much more complex and harder to define than the other two (that's my Daughter Two for you!)

Below, I've excerpted the descriptions of the three main birth orders care of this article

OLDEST CHILD
First born children are natural leaders. They tend to be perfectionists, reliable and conscientious people. They don't react well to surprises and can be aggressive, but can often be people pleasers. Children who are first born have a strong need for approval by others.

Traits
Responsible
Conservative
Doesn’t make waves
Follows parents’ wishes
Emotionally intense
Authoritarian
Perfectionist
Driven
Surrogate parent
Leadership material
(Note: Only children are similar to first born children. However, they are even bigger perfectionists, are more responsible and tend to get along better with older people than individuals their own age)

MIDDLE CHILD
The middle child is often the most difficult to stereotype. Almost always guaranteed to be the opposite of their older sibling, middle children typically feel as though their older sibling stole the spotlight from them, while their younger siblings could get away with murder. They tend to be secretive, more withdrawn and not prone to talk about their emotions. Since middle children feel as though they were overlooked by their family they grow stronger connections with peers and are excellent people readers and peacemakers.

Traits
Peacemaker
Negotiator
Highly attuned to needs of others
Doesn’t like to follow authority
Creative
Independent
Peer-focused
“Chameleon”

YOUNGEST CHILD
Last born children tend to be outgoing, social butterflies. They are also the most financially unstable of all the other siblings since their primary interest is in having a good time. The youngest children of the family are often very charming, but can also be manipulative and spoiled

Traits
Comical/entertaining
Highly social
Laid back
Dependent
Creative
Unconventional
Few expectations of self

Please note that these traits may change based on the space of years between children and the female/male dynamic. For example, I'm the youngest of two but there were 7 years between me and my brother so I'm more like an only child.

What about your characters (or family members :) ? Do they follow these traits or at least some of them? Or do you think this is a bunch of hooey?