Eldest do better on the IQ?

[SteelersMongol]

Boys treated as eldest do better on IQ tests
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Boys 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.

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 now report 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 report 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 up by the senior boy -- the first born or, if the firstborn 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 Norwegian men 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.

Social rank, not birth order

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 people 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 reported higher intelligence scores for firstborns, while other analyses have questioned those findings and the methodology of the reports.

While the Norwegian analysis focused on men, other studies have included women, some indicating a birth-order effect and some not.

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 children may have no one to tutor.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/paren....ap/index.html

[SteelersMongol]

So how many of the SF members are the eldest? Or maybe I should just ask how many of us are SMART?

As for me I'm the second oldest. I wish it meant that I'm the second smart of all 4 boys, but I guess not. My 2 younger brothers are not doing bad at all in school.

[tony hipchest]

im the eldest, and although my younger brother has a masters degree, im pretty sure i could beat him in the test. then again i was always in the "gifted program" throughout school, received academic scholorships, and more used to those kinds of tests.

[vasteeler]

Im the second brother the only thing i have to offer is that i am a steelers fan and older brother is a browns fan enough said

[lamberts-lost-tooth]

I am the 5th of 7 children....My Mother was extremely bright but only recieved her associates degree before starting a family...My second oldest brother is one of the brightest people I know, he never went to college but runs three businesses and is EXTREMELY successful. My sister tested high and never went to college...but was smart enough to marry an attorney. I have tested my I.Q. between 134 and 140....and I SUCK at math...(But if your playing trivial pursuit..I am the man for geography and social science)....My youngest brother never tested very high but is an electrical foreman..and very sucessful
....so I have always thought the tests were rather arbitrary.

[The Duke]

I'm pretty sure my older brother is smarter than me.

[HometownGal]

Hey SF Ladies - rejoice! The article above specifically states "boys" which means that we ladies are smarter than "you know who" whether we're the eldest or the baby!

[GBMelBlount]

Originally Posted by tony hipchest

im the eldest, and although my younger brother has a masters degree, im pretty sure i could beat him in the test. then again i was always in the "gifted program" throughout school, received academic scholorships, and more used to those kinds of tests.

I am by fart the smrtest in my famuly. I thunk by my calcelations if I can increawse my Ique by 1 point per year I will be at 100 in only 20 years! That's an A+, right? Then I can go to collge in Oheo!

[CantStop85]

I hate articles like this...I'm supposed to buy into this theory that was tested on 241,310 Norwegian men drafted into the armed forces between 1967 and 1976. Yeah, that's a wide demographic.

Anyway, I'm the youngest of 5 kids, but all my siblings are only half-siblings. And no offense to them, but there's no way any of them are smarter than me.

Hey, LLT, where did you take an IQ test at? I never really have, but have been curious as to what I'd score. The only kind of comparative test I've ever really taken was the ACT and I scored a 31 (high five for scholarship money).

[GBMelBlount]

Originally Posted by CantStop85

I hate articles like this...I'm supposed to buy into this theory that was tested on 241,310 Norwegian men drafted into the armed forces between 1967 and 1976. Yeah, that's a wide demographic.

Anyway, I'm the youngest of 5 kids, but all my siblings are only half-siblings. And no offense to them, but there's no way any of them are smarter than me.

Hey, LLT, where did you take an IQ test at? I never really have, but have been curious as to what I'd score. The only kind of comparative test I've ever really taken was the ACT and I scored a 31 (high five for scholarship money).

Not sure LLT can tell you, competition & comparison is really discouraged these days in academia. By the way, where the hell is my playstation 2!