Growing up with siblings is something that many people do and sometimes, we get along well from the time we are little. More often than not, however, there is some type of struggle that takes place between the siblings. Even though we may be the best of friends from a young age, there is still going to be at least a little bit of sibling rivalry that takes place.
A new study has come out and it is about to take sibling rivalry to the next level. According to the results of this study, one of the oldest arguments between siblings is about to be put to bed once and for all. If you have been wondering who was the smartest of the siblings, there is no longer a need to wonder. The oldest child is the smartest according to the University of Edinburgh.
According to the research, the older sibling has superior abilities to think and reason because the parents provided them with more mental stimulation.
Generally speaking, the older siblings are able to develop their thinking skills even though all siblings will likely receive the same amount of emotional support.
“Our results suggests that broad shifts in parental behaviour are a plausible explanation for the observed birth order differences in education and labour market outcomes,” Dr. Ana Nuevo-Chiquero of the School of Economics said.
The University of Edinburg conducted the study and then the results were tallied at the University of Sydney using data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
After the research came out, it was published in the Journal of human resources. About 5000 children up to the age of 14 were used in the study.
The children were assessed every two years. Some of the tests that were included were naming names, reading recognition and picture vocabulary assessments. They also took a look into the family’s economic and environmental situation.
According to the data, the firstborn child had the highest IQ in comparison to the younger siblings. They also tended to earn better wages and get more education later in life.
This success level of older siblings was attributed to the behavior of the parents.
“Researchers found that parents changed their behavior as subsequent children were born. They offered less mental stimulation to younger siblings also took part in fewer activities such as such as reading with the child, crafts and playing musical instruments. Mothers also took higher risks during the pregnancy of latter-born children, such as increased smoking,” the study found.
According to a study from Stanford University, the firstborn children also experience more adult language at an earlier time in their life. It allows them to understand both concepts and words more than their siblings.
“Laterborns are exposed to the less mature speech of their siblings. This may affect their performance on the verbal scales of intelligence tests. Moreover, the linguistic environment becomes increasingly less mature as more children enter the family. This also gels with the finding that children in larger families have lower IQ scores,” according to Intel theory
Even though this has been good news for the firstborn, they don’t always have the advantage.
According to a 2015 study, the eldest child was 20% more likely to be shortsighted in comparison with younger siblings.
At least the younger child has something to come back when the older child smacks them down with science.