As the Dragon Year came to an end, a behavioural scientist said that contrary to popular belief, dragon babies may not be as destined for greatness.
Ms Elspeth Kirkman, an author and Senior Director at the Behavioural Insights Team, pointed out in a TikTok video on 28 Jan that dragon babies in Singapore actually face tougher competition due to the larger number of babies born in the same year.
Source: @karminker on TikTok
In Chinese astrology, the Year of the Dragon is considered auspicious for having a child, as dragon babies are said to be destined for greatness and good fortune.
But in the clip, Ms Kirkman said this result was “what happens when people try to rig destiny”.
When everybody wants to have a baby at the same time, it results in an “unusually large birth cohort”, she added.
This means more children compete for the same amount of resources in that year.
Ms Kirkman highlighted a study by National University of Singapore researchers in 2021, titled “Fortunes of Dragons: Cohort size effects on life outcomes”.
It looked into the effect of being a dragon baby on educational and labour market outcomes.
Source: Nikita Belokhonov on Pexels
It found that among Chinese Singaporeans, there was a 12% boost in the birth rate — or 4,500 more births — during dragon years compared with the 3% increase in non-Chinese.
Ms Kirkman said the Singapore Government already expects this to happen and scales resources accordingly.
However, dragon babies are still found to be 2.3 percentage points less likely to get into a national university.
They also earn 6.3% less than their non-dragon peers when they enter the labour market, she noted, adding:
Destiny can’t be happy with this.
The study also found that the increased birth rate’s effect on the cohort spills over to non-Chinese Singaporeans too, although the effect is smaller.
So while dragons may be destined for great things, she said:
Those things are not being expressed through educational outcomes or earnings.
Several netizens who claimed to be Dragon babies commented on Ms Kirkman’s video, saying the study was right and that they had to work harder due to tougher competition.
Source: @karminker on TikTok
One netizen pointed out that this only goes to show that “if everybody is special, then no one is”.
Source: @karminker on TikTok
Another user suggested that parents of dragon babies try sending their kids to school a year earlier or later so they could avoid having to fight for resources.
Source: @karminker on TikTok
However, some believe the prophecy could still be true as being used to harsher competition may help people born in dragon years become more successful.
Source: @karminker on TikTok
Also read: Snake spotted on ATM in Taiwan, netizens say it’s a sign of good luck for the Year of the Snake
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Featured image adapted @karminker on TikTok and Khoa Pham on Unsplash. Photo on the right for illustration purposes only.
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