The so-called "middle child syndrome" is not true, according to a study that focused on family relationships.

The middle child syndrome is the belief that children having older and younger siblings tend to be resentful because they are often ignored in the family. But, this general belief doesn't have any scientific backup, and psychological studies also support the idea that the notion has no reliable and concrete data for its credibility.

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The traits associated with the syndrome are actually "results" of the belief and not the "cause" of it. However, researchers did find that middle children have a certain trait that reflects the birth order. On an exclusive interview with LiveScience, psychology professor Catherine Salmon of the University of Redlands in California explained the actual facts about middle children. She also co-authored the book "The Secret Power of Middle Children."

For two decades, Salmon together with her colleagues studied thousands of middle children. Back in 1998, they studied and questioned about 400 students about family relationships. They asked if whom would they seek help from - parents or siblings?

Generally, firstborns and lastborns would seek help from parents, while middle children would seek help from siblings. The reason is that middle children spend less time with their parents, and have more time with their siblings. On certain cases, middle children would tend to be more dependent on friends instead of family.

But this is not entirely negative, as middle children tend to develop social skills better. They are more inclined to get along with other personality types making them an ideal partner, having the least tendency to cheat. Middle children value non-genetic relationships more than their other siblings.

Another thing is that middle children learn to become more independent, having more rooms for new ideas and experiment on new things more willingly - either for better or worse.

In terms of having less attention from parents, most middle children don't feel resentful at all. Instead, they have a certain sense of freedom and independence, and most are thankful for it. This makes them more capable than their other siblings.