Published 22:12 12 Feb 2018 GMT

First borns are smarter than their younger siblings, according to study

Everyone knows that first born children are the best. They're smarter, cooler, and more attractive. Okay, maybe I'm being slightly biased, since I'm the oldest child in my family. But now there's some actual science to back one of these claims: According to a new study, first born children are more intelligent than their younger siblings. So, to my younger sister: Ha-ha! I'm smarter than you! The study was conducted by the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. In their report, they found that "First borns score higher than their siblings in IQ tests as early as age one. " It turns out there's some truth to the stereotype that first born children are totally spoiled. "Although all children received the same levels of emotional support, first-born children received more support with tasks that developed thinking skills." Parents give the oldest child maximum attention (and Christmas presents). Then for the other kids they start really phoning it in. "Parents changed their behavior as subsequent children were born," write the researchers. "They offered less mental stimulation to younger siblings also took part in fewer activities such as such as reading with the child, crafts and playing musical instruments. Mothers also took higher risks during the pregnancy of latter-born children, such as increased smoking." So, if any of you younger siblings out there want to play the victim, and accuse your parents of playing favorites, now you've got some science to back it up. It's their fault you're not smart! Actually, parents might not be consciously spoiling the first born. It all comes down to math. When there's just one child, that child gets all of the attention. But when there's multiple children, it's impossible to just focus on one of them, so the parents' attention is divided. "Additional siblings reduce the share of parental resources received by any one child," wrote researcher DB Downey in American Psychologist. (And then he said "Na-na-na-na-na!" to his younger siblings.) First born kids really just luck out with their position. They tend to be closer companions to the parents, sitting at their table for dinner instead of that totally lame kids' table. As such, they're more frequently exposed to complex language and adult conversations. "Laterborns are exposed to the less mature speech of their siblings," wrote researchers, in a study conducted by the University of Stanford. "This may affect their performance on the verbal scales of intelligence tests. Moreover, the linguistic environment becomes increasingly less mature as more children enter the family." While first-born's discussing Plato, the other kids are discussing Playdough. In addition, the oldest child frequently plays the role of a parent, watching over their siblings and helping them out with problems. This act of tutoring improves their cognitive capabilities. (Sorry if these words are too complicated for you second-born children to understand.) As a result of these critical thinking skills, first-born children may become more educated than their siblings, and land a job with a higher salary. (I told you - we're the best!) However, maybe we shouldn't throw the "First Borns Are The Best" parade just yet. According to the website Intell Theory, the oldest child's IQ is only one percent higher than his or her siblings, which is hardly worth bragging about. Also, IQ is not the most essential trait. Researcher S.J. Sullaway writes that "Several studies have demonstrated that specific personality traits such as conscientiousness and openness to experience are up to 10 times more important than IQ." But all you first borns don't need to tell your siblings about that last paragraph. Go ahead and tease them today! (They're probably not smart enough to read articles anyway.)

innovation2 min(s) read

Published 22:29 11 Apr 2019 GMT

The oldest child is actually the smartest, study claims

Tom Wood

Older siblings often like to lord over younger brothers and sisters, proclaiming themselves to be wiser, more intelligent, and more successful. There have been plenty of heated arguments about this, both over the dinner table and in the world of academia. But now, a new scientific study claims to have settled the matter for good, proving what younger siblings have always feared: the eldest really is the smartest.

Now, before some of you get totally outraged, let's look at the findings of the boffins first. The study, which was recently published in the Journal of Human Resources, and entitled 'The Early Origins of Birth Order Differences in Children’s Outcomes and Parental Behavior,' claims that parents languish more attention and care on their firstborn child, and inadvertently become more complacent with subsequent offspring.

The researchers examined statistics from the National Longitudinal Survey of the Youth, which includes information on thousands of Americans between the ages of 14-21. These minors were first interviewed in 1979, and have been regularly re-interviewed since that time, on a wealth of subjects relating to their employment, income and education.

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From the data they examined, they found that parents gave the same amount of love and care to all their children. But they noted that the firstborn child tended to receive the most mental stimulation; as the number of children within the family unit increased, parents were unable to keep up that level of stimulation for subsequent children.

Speaking to TODAY magazine, the study's co-author Jee-Yeon K. Lehmann stated: "We were surprised by the finding that birth order differences in cognitive test scores and parental behaviour appeared so early. First-time parents tend to want to do everything right and generally, have a greater awareness of their interactions with and investments in the firstborn. With each subsequent child, parents tend to relax to a greater extent what they might deem as non-essential needs for their kids."

A pair of siblings playing together.

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She added: "The lesson here for parents is that the types of investments that you make in your kids matter a lot, especially those that you make in the children’s first few years of life. All those learning activities that you did with your first child as excited, nervous and over-zealous parents actually seem to have some positive, long-lasting impact on their development."

The study also claims that pregnant mothers are less likely to cut down their alcohol intake while gestating subsequent children, to seek prenatal care later, and to breastfeed their other children.

So there you have it: older siblings really are better off. Don't lord it over the young'uns too much though guys: it's likely to cause a lot of tension.

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lifestyle2 min(s) read

Published 16:17 21 Oct 2018 GMT

New research reveals second-born siblings are more likely to go to jail

Tom Wood

While all first-borns are aware that they are smarter than their siblings - well, at least according to a recent study published by The Journal of Human Resources - it now appears that they have one more thing to lord over their younger siblings' heads.

New research claims that second-born children are more likely to misbehave than their older counterparts, and it can even result in severe disciplinary action.

Three children sat round having breakfast together

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A report from MIT appears to corroborate the "curse of the second born child", after alleging that second-born kids are much more likely to be rebellious.

Researchers collected data from thousands of sets of siblings, and the results showed that second-born babies are 25 to 40 per cent more likely to get into serious trouble at school, or even with the law - meaning potential jail time.

"Despite large differences in environments across the two areas, we find remarkably consistent results: In families with two or more children, second-born boys are on the order of 20 to 40 percent more likely to be disciplined in school and enter the criminal justice system compared to first-born boys even when we compare siblings," the authors of the study wrote in an ensuing paper.

The study claims that this all boils down to our parents, and how they alter their parenting style from child to child. Things like the first born getting undivided attention, and making the second-born fight for one-to-one time is a significant factor.

siblings

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According to NPR: "The firstborn has role models, who are adults. And the second, later-born children have role models who are slightly irrational 2-year-olds, you know, their older siblings. Both the parental investments are different, and the sibling influences probably contribute to these differences we see in the labor market and what we find in delinquency. It's just very difficult to separate those two things because they happen at the same time."

As such, a combination of receiving a lack of attention from their parents, and a rivalry with the oldest sibling can result in the second-born child having an unruly attitude. This can, in turn, make them more inclined to get into trouble at school, leading them to even break the law one day.

sibliings

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"In addition to the fact that first-borns experience undivided attention until the arrival of the second-born, we discovered that the arrival of the second-born child has the potential to extend the early-childhood parental investment in the first-born child," the report concluded.

Of course, this doesn't mean that all second-born children will have trouble with authority, and go onto lead a life of crime. It's all dependant on your family setup and your own personal characteristics and goals.

As the authors of the study mention, "Only a minority of kids, maybe, you know, 1 in 10, 1 in 20, are getting in serious trouble," so it's not all doom and gloom if you're the second-born child, after all.

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uncategorised3 min(s) read

Published 11:41 19 Sep 2017 GMT

Study reveals that youngest siblings are obsessed with being the funniest

Tom Wood

Older and younger siblings are very different. Everyone who has siblings knows this, as does every parent who has more than one child. In all honesty, even those without any brothers and sisters know this, after meeting a friend's siblings for more than five minutes. Psychologists have been studying these dynamics for years now, and for good reason. There's bound to be a huge difference behind the personality of the first-born child and the last one to join the family. New parents likely have a lot of anxiety over their inexperience with their first baby, whereas by the third or fourth they have a better understanding, but likely a lot less time as they are spread thin across multiple mouths to feed. For me, the difference was pretty clear. I have both an older brother and an older sister, and we're all very different. Things have levelled off now that we're all adults, but when we were young you could see how the age difference affected how we acted towards one another. My sister, the middle child, tended to feel that she was treated unfairly while we had the advantages of being the eldest or the "baby" of the group (in my case). I was always frustrated by seeing them both get to do things I was too young to do, and the eldest of us ended up being pretty self-sufficient as attentions were turned to his younger siblings. But another way in which siblings can be different is in how they see themselves. According to a poll taken by YouGov, who studied the personalities in the youngest and oldest children in Britain, younger siblings see themselves as the funniest of the children, while older siblings believe themselves to be more successful and responsible. As the study describes, there are plenty of differences in how children see themselves and each other. Looking at the stats, the poll revealed some truths about siblings that you may see in your own family: "Splitting out the first and last born siblings in British families with more than one child (86 per cent of the population), a clear divide in personality traits emerges. The most significant difference is in feeling the burden of responsibility – most (54 per cent) first borns say they are more responsible than their siblings, compared to 31 per cent of last borns. Younger siblings, on the other hand, are more likely to say they are more funny (46 per cent compared to 36 per cent of elder siblings), more easy going and more relaxed." The website admits that age can have some affect on these results, rather than the family dynamics, but there are undoubtedly some forces at work that have more to do with how we are brought up. After all, when the second (or third, or fourth...) child comes around, the first may have to learn a lot of lessons for themselves while their parents' attentions are elsewhere. This isn't the only discovery made about how our origins affect our personalities and livelihoods in the future, as you can read about the recent study that found that people born in September are more successful.

uncategorised3 min(s) read

Published 23:53 18 Dec 2017 GMT

Scientists reveal where smart children get their intelligence from

Tom Wood

Scientists have studied intelligence for years, and not once did it involve watching an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Obviously, your lifestyle plays a factor. You can improve your brainpower in a variety of ways - getting a good night's sleep, playing an instrument, reading, exercising, and using fancy words like "scintillating." Meanwhile, one scintillating study revealed that all intelligent people share the key trait of "humility" (Sorry, Kanye West and Donald Trump. I guess you're not intelligent.) But what about tracing intelligence on the genetic level? We're all a combination of our parents. We know who to blame for our physical attributes, like our height, face and hair. But what about our mental attributes? In a report by Psychology Today, researchers analyzed the co-evolution of the brain and the conditioning of the genome. In their findings, they made a surprising discovery: children inherit their intelligence from their mothers. (Thanks for nothing, dad!) The first study of this nature took place in 1984. There have been several studies since then, and they all lead to the conclusion that "maternal genes contribute most to the development of the thought centers in the brain." It all has to do with "conditioned genes," which are genes that "behave differently depending on their origin." If these genes are inherited from the mother, they become activated. But if the genes are inherited from the father? Deactivated. And there are genes that "work the opposite and are activated only if they come from the father." (But not in the case of intelligence.) For the first experiment, scientists created embryos of rats that only had genes from the other, and or only had genes for the father. However, when they tried to transfer them in the uterus of an adult, the embryos died. This led to the discovery of the conditioned genes. What's more, the researchers discovered, "Those with an extra dose of maternal genes developed a bigger head and brain, but had little bodies. Conversely, those with an extra dose of paternal genes had small brains and larger bodies." We get it, researchers - guys are idiots! You don't have to keep rubbing it in! Other studies back up this theory. As you know, women have two X chromosomes and men have an X and a Y chromosome. Since intelligence depends on the X chromosome, women are twice as likely to pass on the brains. Researchers at the University of Ulm, Germany discovered that mental disability is "30% more common in males." A medical study in Glasgow, Scotland "found that the best predictor of intelligence was the IQ of the mother." And on The Simpsons, it's pretty obvious Lisa inherited her intelligence from Marge, not from Homer. But don't worry, guys. The researchers write note that while the "Mother’s genes go directly to the cerebral cortex, those of the father [go] to the limbic system." The limbic system deals with emotions, memories and stimulation, which play an important role in solving problems. Wait, so that means men control the genes for emotions and women control the genes for intelligence? That flips the typical gender stereotypes. That is scintillating (I think).

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uncategorised2 min(s) read

Published 20:46 22 Dec 2017 GMT

Babies with big heads are more intelligent, according to science

Tom Wood

Parents often speculate what their children will be like when they grow up. For example, my parents thought I was going to be a doctor. Man, they were way off. (Every year, my Christmas present to them is disappointment.) You never know exactly how your kids will turn out. They might be smart, funny, shy, or a jerk who steals everyone's food from the office refrigerator. Character is shaped by a mysterious combination of nature and nurture. However, scientists recently discovered intriguing links between intelligence and genetics. Earlier this week one study revealed that intelligence is passed down from the mother, not the father. Now a study published by Molecular Psychiatry has revealed that bigheaded babies are more likely to be intelligent. How did they arrive at this conclusion? Easy. Scientists discovered bigger heads hold bigger brains. Just kidding. If you believed that, you were probably born with a small head. Actually, UK BioBank collected data from a hundred thousand people. Participants provided DNA samples in the form of blood, urine and saliva, as well as pertinent information about their background and lifestyle. Then researchers began their investigation, searching for compelling links between genes, IQ and overall health. Their analysis revealed that big-headed babies are significantly more likely to show greater intelligence later in life. That means they will probably get an academic achievement, like earn a college degree, or score high on a verbal-numerical reasoning test. And they'll probably never watch an episode of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. But how big is a big head, exactly? In the study, researchers said they considered heads with a circumference of 12.5 to 14 inches to be smarter. So break your tape measure, and see if your kid is the next Stephen Hawking or the next Steve-O from Jackass. Professor Ian Deary elaborated on the results to Neuroscience News: "In addition to there being shared genetic influences between cognitive skills and some physical and mental health states, the study also found that cognitive skills share genetic influences with brain size, body shape and educational attainments." I don't know what means because I was born with a small head, but it sounds pretty legit. If your baby doesn't have an enormous cranium, don't put him or her up on eBay just yet. Researchers discovered another significant link to brainpower. Researcher Saskia Hagenaars told The Independent, "The study supports an existing theory which says that those with better overall health are likely to have higher levels of intelligence." So just keep your baby in shape, and you should be fine. Of course, there are other factors that affect intelligence besides hat size. But if you have a baby with a big head, or you have a big head yourself, now you know it can actually be a source of pride. Who knew being told you have a big head could be a compliment?