Lifestyle

New Study Says First Born Children Are the Most Intelligent

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ABC 13 writes that the University of Edinburgh recently released the results from a new study they conducted concerning intelligence level in families. The study suggests that the eldest sibling is generally the most intelligent child, and they have their parents to thank for their brain power. When it comes to their first born, parents tend to give their child more mental stimulation than the following children, leading researchers to believe that it’s nurture, not nature, that makes the difference.

The University of Edinburgh used documentation from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that tested 5,000 children from birth to 14-years-old every two years. “The findings showed first-born children tended to score higher on verbal, reading, math and comprehension skills as early as just after birth to age 3, and differences in performance between first-borns and other children increased with age,” ABC 13 writes.

Attempting to figure out the correlation between intelligence level and birth order has gone on for decades. In 2007, the New York Times wrote that a study from two important publications said that the first born child’s I.Q. was generally higher than their siblings’. “The average difference in I.Q. was slight — three points higher in the eldest child than in the closest sibling — but significant, the researchers said. And they said the results made it clear that it was due to family dynamics, not to biological factors like prenatal environment.,” the article stated.