First-borns smarter than younger siblings

25 April, 2008: The first-born child tends to be more intelligent than siblings, a new study on ‘birth order’ has revealed.

In the research conducted at Vrije University, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, scientists examined 650 children, including testing their IQs three times – at the ages of 5, 12, and 18 in their lives.

What they found led the researchers to the conclusion that the first-born child is more likely to have a higher intelligence quotient (IQ), and the youngest is likely to have the lowest IQ. And, this pattern was seen both in boys and girls.

The Amsterdam study appears in Intelligence, a journal on psychology that addresses intelligence and psychometrics. Intelligence is also the official journal of the International Society for Intelligence Research.

Dorret Boomsma, one of the authors of the study, writes in Intelligence,“The highest IQ scores were in children without any older siblings, followed by children with one older sibling. Children with two or more older siblings obtained the lowest score.”

Though the research does not explain why exactly this happens, it is believed that the high level of attention parents give to the first-born children enhances theirintellectual development.

The research conducted at Amsterdam’s Vrije University is the latest in a series of researches carried out in order to bring to light the fact that ‘birth order’ has fundamental effect on intelligence, the website medindia.net has reported. Studies done earlier have also indicated that birth order could affect, apart from intelligence, factors such as personality and achievement.

Previous studies, according to the website, have shown that though first-born children are more likely to be academically successful and win Nobel Prizes, they are less likely to be “radical or pioneering."

In one of the earlier studies, according to the medindia.net report, researchers at the University of California, the United States, who examined 2,000 families, had discovered the following:

• First-borns are achievers, who are “dominant, religious, conscientious and neurotic.” 
• Those born in the middle are “rebellious, less religious, impulsive and open to new experiences.” 
• Those born last are “agreeable, sociable and creative.” The last-born was also found to be usually the favourite.
   

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