Study Says Eldest Children Have Higher I.Q.s

[anitram]

It's true in my family (with a larger disparity, and we were both tested so I know our actual numbers). However, although my IQ is higher, my brother is better read than me, a better writer and speaker and not a Type A personality. I'd say he's better adjusted to the world since he seems to have little stress in live (although, my parents have spoon fed him much more than me, so perhaps it's not a wonder).

[yolland]

Originally posted by deep
look what I just found

Since you left out the rest,

[more about firstborns]
The only child/first born tends to be an organized, researched thinker. They are subject to high expectations and, as a result, are pleasers. The parents are more anxious, but also give their first born more responsibility. They are most likely to succeed, to be conscientious, get high grades at school, and achieve a higher salary and more conservative job in adulthood. Reliable, serious, rule keeping, self-critical, anxious and perfectionist, the first born enjoys being around adults and provides the link between parents and the younger family members. They’re problem solvers, strong-willed, determined, good listeners, worry about new experiences, controlling, jealous and moralistic.

[and the rest...]
The later born child always has someone ahead of them to compete against. Their parents are more relaxed and less strict with the later born child. They try to establish a place for themselves separate from their older siblings, and so tend to be more creative. The later born child can be rebellious, but also are pleasant, agreeable and easy going. Unlike the first born, they generally don’t excel at school and aren’t concerned with achievement. They’re rebellious, creative, unconventional and always feel like the baby, even in when they are adults. But they can also be practical and competitive, though they can constantly feel like the underdog. They’re likely to be good at sports and art. Famous later borns, and rebels, include Joan of Arc, Charles Darwin, Gandhi, Leon Trotsky, Charlie Chaplin, Bob Hope, George Michael and Sir Laurence Olivier..

Having to compete for their parents attention, the youngest has good coping mechanisms in place. They get special privileges and more relaxed parents, but because of this they tend to have less self-control. The youngest child can be a risk-taker, a joker and an exhibitionist. They are humorous and charming but also fresh and somewhat over the top. Youngest children are entertaining and know how to get noticed, Jerry Springer is a perfect example. Ted Kennedy is the youngest of the Kennedy clan and did not learn to accept the responsibility of being a member of that clan until he was well into adulthood. In the entertainment world they tend to play more dramatic roles. Sydney Poitier is the youngest of seven children.

Not that I'm up on this "birth order" stuff, but I didn't realize there was such a thing as a distinct "later born" category. So how do you break it down with a family of 5 like I grew up in, or an even larger family where there are 8 or 10? Which category or categories do you stretch? Of course in the case of the IQ thing, the trend (according to the article) is for it to drop with each sibling...

I have no idea what the IQ range is like for my family, and wouldn't really have a clue how to go about deciding who I think is "smarter"...I guess if this model happens to hold true in our case, I'm "dumber" than my older brothers but "smarter" than my younger brother and sister. I have no idea whether that "sounds right" or not really.

[maycocksean]

Originally posted by yolland

I'm "dumber" than my older brothers

My gosh, they must be genuises! I have a hard time visualizing you as "dumber" than anyone!

[Varitek]

I definately felt growing up that there was some effect being the oldest because I had to fight for rules to be relaxed, freedoms, allowance increases, and do chores like the dishes alone until my sister shared them (and by the time I went to college the whole family was doing them). I don't know if that accounts for higher IQ or just that I'm more independent and assertive than her, and she can be more entitled. (There might be a lot to this that is unrelated to order - we aren't genetically related, for example, so our very different personalities have that as a source as well.)

[Irvine511]

reading all this stuff, it all makes sense for my family. i can read all of this stuff and nod and make the behavior of my siblings and i fit all of these various categories. i am the eldest, and probably am more "IQ" smart than my brother and sister, but both of them are in possession of certain intelligences that i do not have. my middle brother gets along with everyone and everyone likes him and my sister probably does have the least amount of self-control as she was the first to jump out of an airplane and also was the only one of us to experiment with real drugs.

but then, i can make the same heads and tails out of horoscopes.

[deep]

Originally posted by yolland

Since you left out the rest,

thanks
I guess the evidence is quite compelling.

Youngest children are entertaining and know how to get noticed, Jerry Springer is a perfect example. Ted Kennedy is the youngest of the Kennedy clan and did not learn to accept the responsibility of being a member of that clan until he was well into adulthood. In the entertainment world they tend to play more dramatic roles. Sydney Poitier is the youngest of seven children.

I always get Ted Kennedy, Springer and Poitier mixed up.
I'm sold.







But,
back to the study.


It might have more weight with me if they took 500 families that each had 4 children within 10 years of age between them.

A better control group.


It is like this stat

most car accidents take place within 10 miles of home.

not 200 miles?

Wow, don't you think most people would be better drivers on familiar roads?

[deep]

Originally posted by Irvine511


but then, i can make the same heads and tails out of horoscopes.

bingo


finally

a bit of skepticism

I have been busy printing up my sales brochures for the Brooklyn Bridge.

[Irvine511]

it is true, though, that i feel a much more acute level of resonsibility than my siblings. i feel tremendous pressure to succeed and try to please everybody.

my brother is the most social of the three of us. everyone loves him. he had a wide variety of friends in high school as well -- from kids with perfect SATs to kids who became mechanics.

my sister is the hippie, the vegetarian, the most complex, probably, and somehow always becomes the center of attention via drama.

so all that is true. but there are days when my horoscope is eerie.

[deep]

Originally posted by Irvine511
it is true, though, that i feel a much more acute level of resonsibility than my siblings. i feel tremendous pressure to succeed and try to please everybody.

my brother is the most social of the three of us. everyone loves him. he had a wide variety of friends

Funny I was just in another forum

and he wrote the same thing about you.

Originally posted by Irvine511
but there are days when my horoscope is eerie.

Yeah

the same thing always happened to me, too.


and then I realized I did not have the columns line up properly.
And I had been reading the wrong sign for years.




and finally

I can still hear the words from my whacky old aunt that passed on a couple of years back.

"You can talk yourself into believing anything."

[deep]

Originally posted by Irvine511
but there are days when my horoscope is eerie.

I knew you were a person of faith

come on over and be saved.

[kafrun]

Well I have a reasonably high IQ and I'm the middle child, which would make my older brothers geniuses - which would make this whole study a HOUSE OF LIES!

[No spoken words]

I'm the oldest of 2 kids, and, we're both dolts.

[Irvine511]

Originally posted by deep


I knew you were a person of faith

come on over and be saved.

wait a minute ... is this how The Bible works as well!?!?!

[deep]

Originally posted by Irvine511
wait a minute ... is this how The Bible works as well!?!?!

more or less


read the Bible

and pray about things
and open your mind to the possibility of it being true

and then (decide) or allow yourself to go with a calm feeling of presence of the spirit

and you can be born again and saved

[Irvine511]

so ... if i read something, and already know something, and i'm told that what i'm reading is always true, then it will help me better understand what i already know and, in fact, validate it even if i did not previously know it needed validation?

[No spoken words]

I'm the oldest of 2 kids, and, we're both dolts. And we have poor memories.

[deep]

Originally posted by Irvine511
so ... if i read something, and already know something, and i'm told that what i'm reading is always true, then it will help me better understand what i already know and, in fact, validate it even if i did not previously know it needed validation?

/\
too confusing

just believe

we all need something to believe in


we are creatures that like community
we want to belong


everyone has more or less
accepted this study

we can buy into horoscopes

every person that the Coalition forces kill in Iraq
is Al Qaeda

believe

[coemgen]

I knew my younger sisters were dumb.

[Bono's shades]

Originally posted by yolland

Since you left out the rest,

Not that I'm up on this "birth order" stuff, but I didn't realize there was such a thing as a distinct "later born" category. So how do you break it down with a family of 5 like I grew up in, or an even larger family where there are 8 or 10? Which category or categories do you stretch? Of course in the case of the IQ thing, the trend (according to the article) is for it to drop with each sibling...

I'm the eighth of nine brothers and sisters, and although I'm not as smart as my two oldest siblings - who are probably genuis IQ level or close to it - I did very well academically (considerably better than a couple of my other older siblings, in fact). Then there's my younger sister, the baby of the family, who was just OK academically but is an artsy, creative type.

[butter7]

anything about the only kid of the family?