Science Says The First Born Child is The Most Intelligent
Are you the oldest child or the middle child? Have you ever compared yourself to your siblings?
Lots of people believe that the position we hold among our siblings comes with things like specific personality traits and things of the sort. However, research has proven that sometimes these frames do not fit the picture. I am the oldest of my siblings and find this to be true.
In a study done by the University of Leipzig, researchers took the time to examine the effects of birth order. They examined the order for about 20,000 people from the USA, UK, and Germany. In this study, they analyzed the participants through tests on their intelligence and how they were in general. They looked at how agreeable, open, and neurotic the participants were.
When the data they collected was compared to the birth position for all of these people they were able to conclude that the first-born children are more intelligent than their younger siblings. The IQ test alone showed that there was a specific pattern that showed a 1.5 IQ point increase based on the birth-order position.
Now, in families that only had two children, they found that the first born is only sixty percent likely to be smarter than the younger sibling. This could be a bit skewed if you consider that intelligence is developed, however, at least forty percent is strictly genetically conditioned. These differences come from the environment, not their genes.
This could be because the first-born children get to have a few years (or months) alone with their parent’s undivided attention before another sibling comes around. Their siblings will have to share right off the bat.
Parents are often more strict and expect more from their first-born as well. You know how it works parents are too strict on the older, forget the middle, and baby the youngest. That’s how it went in my family at least.
Do you think this works for your circumstance? If you think about it, it makes sense for the first-born to be more intelligent, we have to take care of our siblings from a young age and teach them everything that our parents don’t. First-born children are very important, are you smarter than your siblings?