These roles are simply used by psychologists and those in the mental health field (myself included) to identify a person's role in the family and to give their struggles some classification, however, each role presents with it's own issues. Just because you may the "Hero" doesn't mean you are the child that will more than likely succeed and vice versa. These roles are only meant to define the family system. I try to stay away from these when working with families and give the families a sense that every one has the same role and to encourage parents not to classify their children.