The Eldest Children Are Usually Smarter

The youngest child may be given the freedom to do what they want but it is the eldest child who gets the brains.

A study found that first-born in a family tends to be the smartest – and each successive sibling is slightly less bright.

What is more, younger children actually think of themselves as being less intelligent than their big brothers and sisters.

The actual difference is small – with IQ dropping about 1.5 IQ points per sibling. 

But it may help explain why eldest children often do so well in life.

The German researchers aren't sure why big brothers and sisters seem to be blessed with brains but say it could be because they benefit from their parents’ undivided attention – at least until a pesky little brother or sister comes along.

It is also possible that the eldest child’s brainpower gets a boost from teaching his or her siblings about the ways of the world.

The Leipzig University researchers analysed the results of three national studies, including one from the UK, involving more than 20,000 people in total. 

Data included results of IQ and personality tests. Families with more than four children were excluded because there were too few of them to provide meaningful input.

Analysis showed a clear drop in IQ, as well as in the person’s own perception of their intelligence, with each extra sibling.

However, no differences in personality were found, despite some previous studies claiming birth order affects character traits such as extraversion and reliability.

Researcher Julia Rohrer said the question of whether a person’s birth order affects their character has long fascinated the public and scientists alike.

She said that while she didn’t examine why eldest children tend to be brainier, the reason likely lies in upbringing.

Dr Rohrer said: ‘One theory is that following children “dilute” the resources of their parents.

‘While the firstborn gets full parental attention, at least for some months or years, late-borns will have to share from the beginning.

‘Another possible factor is described by the tutoring hypothesis: A firstborn can “tutor” their younger siblings, explaining to them how the world works and so on.

‘Teaching other people has high cognitive demands – the children need to recall their own knowledge, structure it and think of a good way to explain it to younger siblings, which could provide a boost to intelligence for some firstborns.’

However, eldest children shouldn’t gloat, because they won’t always be the cleverest.

According to Dr Rohrer’s calculations, in a two-child family, the eldest will have the higher IQ six times in ten, a statistic that still gives younger children opportunity to shine.

Finally, biology may also play a role, with younger children more prone to genetic problems because their parents are older when they are conceived. 

However, with previous work showing that second-born child is raised as the eldest, after the first-born died in infancy, their intelligence is a par with other first-borns, it is thought that biology is less important than upbringing.

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