BIRTH ORDER AND INTELLIGENCE

FIRST BORN

A new study from Norway shows that the is a correlation between birth order and intelligence. According to the study, the first born enjoys a period of time as the only child and therefore is the center of attention. This allows the first child to learn more since there are no other siblings to compete with.

Other journal articles show very little correlation between birth order and intelligence, other than to say that the younger siblings may have a slight advantage because they observe their older siblings studying and may pick up information from them.

I know that was how it was for me. I always watched my older sisters and brother doing their homework and by the time I started school, I was a couple of grades ahead of my age. My oldest sister, and the oldest of the siblings, graduated high school and went to tech school for cosmetology. Then there is a set of fraternal twins, my second sister has been a legal secretary most of her adult life. Her twin brother was in the army and has other manual labor jobs. Then there is me, which has graduated college and has had some graduate school. Then there's my younger sister, who has worked at several service jobs.

There are a lot of other factors that effect intelligence besides birth order. Did the parents read alot to the child. Was the child allowed to observe their parents or older siblings working on problems? That can effect it. Exposure to lead can effect it. Nutrition even effects it. So, you can't say just one factor and only one effects intelligence.