Firstborns have an edge on IQ

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

Families give firstborns the edge on IQ

Ishani Ganguli

Reuters

Friday, 22 June 2007

 

 

Firstborn sons have higher IQs than their younger brothers, and their social status within the family may explain why, say Norwegian researchers.

 

They add their findings should equally apply to women.

 

Dr Petter Kristensen of Norway's National Institute of Occupational Health and colleagues report their research in today's issue of the journal Science, and online ahead of print publication in the journal Intelligence.

 

Kristensen and team analysed military draft records for more than 240,000 Norwegian men and found that firstborns had an edge of 2.3 IQ points on their next oldest brothers, who in turn beat brothers born third by 1.1 points on average.

 

Men who had been raised as the eldest, whether they were born first, second, or third, had IQs to match their first-born peers. The same was true for those raised or born second, the researchers say.

 

"This study provides 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," say Kristensen and team.

 

Nature or nurture?

 

Their research confirms what many scientists have suspected for more than a century - that firstborns have an edge.

 

But attempts to prove the effect have been disputed, in part because the circumstances of each family are different.

 

To compensate for this, Kristensen and team studied brothers raised in the same families.

 

And some scientists argue that birth order IQ differences arise in the womb, while others point to family interactions.

 

To distinguish between potential biological effects and social effects, the researchers also studied men whose older siblings had died before the age of one year.

 

That was when they discovered that it was not birth order so much as growing up as the eldest of the children in a family that made the difference.

 

Kristensen says the findings fit with most existing theories about why merely being older might affect someone's IQ.

 

Various researchers have suggested that older siblings might benefit from a larger share of family resources, the process of tutoring their younger brothers and sisters, or from expectations placed on their social rank.

 

"Things like intellectual resources (and) stimulation from the parents to the child seem to be very important," says Kristensen.

 

Sceptics swayed by study

 

The findings have swayed even sceptics of the theory that birth order affects intelligence.

 

"Birth order has been studied in relation to everything you can think of," says Professor Joe Rodgers, a US psychologist from the University of Oklahoma who was not involved in the research.

 

He is impressed that Kristensen's team was able to document a 2.3-point difference in IQ in such a large group.

 

"An awful lot of parents would pay money if their kids could increase IQ by two real IQ points," says Rodgers.

 

The IQ differences were larger in brothers born into smaller families, and to married women with higher education.

 

But the effect seems to vanish with greater age gaps between siblings, Kristensen and team say.

 

It is unclear what the gap means for individual families, and if it can be found outside this population of young Norwegian men.

 

But Kristensen says there is nor reasons why the findings would not be valid in women as well as men.

 

He says he would be interested to see how siblings compare in cultures in which extended family members live together.

[Baashi]

Libaax,

Can you quantify intelligence, beauty, and other similar subjective qaulities? It is one thing to use superlatives when describing how one is more intelligent than the other like claiming this qallanjo is more intelligent than that dudette. It is totally another thing al together however to put values on intelligence or beauty and say this chic is 3 standard deviation intelligent than that one. My son ahs recenly gone through cognitive evaluation and got upper 90s score for all three sessions (parental pride eh all time high buddy). My duaghter didn't get that referral from her teacher though. The thing is she is more intelligent in my eyes that is than him but she is shy and tend to freeze when pressured or put in a public or visible position and asked to perform. Now you would think that folks who design these sort of tests would take all these factors into account.

 

Good topic widaaygiis.

[Viking]

Perhaps a first born appears brighter because parents spend more time with them.

[Baashi]

Viking ya got that one righ awoowe. I blinded my first kid with camera flashes. The pics I've taken off her are upward of 100s.

 

Back to the subject, do ya think that intelligence is a measurable quantity? What ya make of the idea that subjective qualities can be measured to the fraction?

[-Serenity-]

LSK CLEAR YOUR INBOX! Its very annoying when I've a burning complaint and nowhere to direct it to

[Cara.]

^Tan waa yaraan.

[-Serenity-]

^Qumayo.

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

^^

 

Try it now!

[rudy-Diiriye]

whats Qumayo??

[Aaliyyah]

I don't believe that the first child will be any smarter than the rest. It all depends on the environment. If you provide for your child enriched environment,at home and at school they would tend to be smart and well-rounded. There has been lot of studies taking place, and kids who have smart parents, or parents w/ professional careers tend to excel academically. That shouldn't be surprising given that they are daily being exposed to more academic life style.

 

 

Rudy,

 

qumayo = some one with an evil eye, or some one who brings bad luck.

 

 

something along those lines, can't come up with one word to sum the meaning of it.

 

 

wa salaamu alaikum