IQs Higher For Oldest Children In Family

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IQs Higher For Oldest Children In Family Senior Child Scores Better In Testing

Posted: 1:47 pm CDT June 21, 2007
Updated: 1:48 pm CDT June 21, 2007

Washington -- Children at the top of the pecking order -- either by birth or because their older siblings died -- score higher on IQ tests than their younger brothers or sisters.

The question of whether firstborn and only children are really smarter than those who come along later has been hotly debated for more than a century.

Norwegian researchers reported that it isn't a matter of being born first, but growing up the senior child, that seems to result in the higher IQ scores.

Petter Kristensen and Tor Bjerkedal reported their findings in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

It's a matter of what they call social rank in the family -- the highest scores were racked by the senior child -- the first born or, if the first born had died in infancy, the next oldest.

Kristensen, of Norway's National Institute of Occupational Health, and Bjerkedal, of the Norwegian Armed Forces Medical Services, studied the IQ test results of 241,310 Norwegians drafted into the armed forces between 1967 and 1976. All were aged 18 or 19 at the time.

The average IQ of first-born men was 103.2, they found.

Second-born men averaged 101.2, but second-born men whose older sibling died in infancy scored 102.9.

And for third-borns, the average was 100.0. But if both older siblings died young, the third-born score rose to 102.6.

The findings provide "evidence that the relation between birth order and IQ score is dependent on the social rank in the family and not birth order as such," they concluded.

It's an issue that has perplexed experts since at least 1874, when Sir Francis Galton reported that men in prominent positions tend to be firstborns more often than would have been statistically expected.

Since then, several studies have confirmed higher intelligence scores for firstborns, while other analyses have questioned those findings and the methodology of those reports.

Frank J. Sulloway of the Institute for Personality and Social Research at the University of California, Berkeley, welcomed what he called the Norwegians' "elegantly designed" analysis.

"These two researchers demonstrate that how study participants were raised, not how they were born, is what actually influences their IQs," said Sulloway, who was not part of the research team.

The elder child pulls ahead, he said, perhaps as a result of learning gained through the process of tutoring younger brothers and sisters.

The older child benefits by having to organize and express its thoughts to tutor youngsters, he said, while the later born children may have no one to tutor.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[Max Whittaker]

Didn't work on me. I must be the exception.

[Babes_Cat]

mmm. i've always known that. yay for us firstborns.

[*Pleasant Tomorrow*]

haha I told my younger sister and she refuses to believe it. You always do notice that the older one is more mature a lot of the time, though.

[catlover79]

YAY! Another firstborn here. We rule!!

[Pus$y Galore]

Originally Posted by *Pleasant Tomorrow*

haha I told my younger sister and she refuses to believe it. You always do notice that the older one is more mature a lot of the time, though.

But didn't the study say it was done just on males? I heard it was the first born male who had a higher IQ than younger brothers (which definitely is the case in my family).

I'm second born (female) and my IQ is the same as my brother's or within a few points. His was 140 and mine 136. My other brother was diagnosed as "borderline retarded" when he was in grade 3, but we've since found out that it was probably unfair and inaccurate. Back then you never heard of ADD, and we're sure he has it. I'm sure if he hadn't been held back a bit because of that label, he could have gone farther. He sure is street smart though.

I think a lot of it has to do with the parents spending more time academically with the first born. Once subsequent children come along, they don't have the time to focus the same amount of attention on the younger ones. We're there more to pickup the chores.

[swedeace]

Originally Posted by Max Whittaker

Didn't work on me. I must be the exception.

Ditto.

[Kay Scarpetta]

Originally Posted by *Pleasant Tomorrow*

haha I told my younger sister and she refuses to believe it. You always do notice that the older one is more mature a lot of the time, though.

That's definitely true about the maturity level though. I went from 11 to 18. My sister, on the other hand, is trapped in second grade... and she's a freshman in highschool.

[dawsongirl]

Us girls weren't even smart enough to make the study apparently.

[catlover79]

Originally Posted by dawsongirl

Us girls weren't even smart enough to make the study apparently.

Yeah, what gives??

[TJL]

I can't wait to tell my sister this tomorrow!

[Brad Russ]

I believe that article. My brother's two years older, and he scored higher than me in an i.q. test he took when he was drunk. lol!!

[catlover79]

Originally Posted by Little Mel

I believe that article. My brother's two years older, and he scored higher than me in an i.q. test he took when he was drunk. lol!!

That must have been a sight to behold. You didn't have a camera going then, did you??

[Mr. Stefani]

I believe it. My sister is way smarter than me and my brother.

[Corolla]

What about people without siblings?