First-born children most intelligent

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This might be true but what if you come from a step family where you might be the eldest but in birth order are actually a 3rd child?
Statistics are often a matter of statistics.
Comment by Jen on April 14 10:51

Depends whether reason is biological or nurturing. If biological then it would be the mother's firstborn child that is more intelligent.* However, if it is down to nuturing than family order would be more important, in that elder children are often made responsible for younger ones and tend to be addressed differently (more adultlike). Whereas younger ones tend to always have siblings around and, supposedly, learn to share and socialise right from the start of their lives.

*I once read survey that stated it took a woman's body 2 years to recover from birth of child and that any child born before recovery complete risked being smaller and less intelligent than it's sibling.


Comment by deejay on April 14 11:49

It could also be because the mother's body is in perfect condition the first time she becomes pregnant. She has a complete energy, vitamin, mineral and nutrient store, she is in better physical, mental and emotional state.

Compare that with the condition she is in when pregnant with a second, third or even sixth child, and you can see why the firstborn most probably ends up with the lion's share...
Comment by Haya Z on May 07 23:10

Sounds nice 'in theory'. However the testing stopped at 18 years of age, 'intelligence' tests tend to be quite culturally subjective (including the best one, the WAIS-IV) it was a small study with very few data sets and too many other issues to mention.
I am commenting because in university I would notice only children construct flawed studies to show an inherent benefit of being an only/eldest. Additionally first hand personal experience my oldest siblings barely finished university where as the younger one's all completed Post Grad and life results don't point to a higher IQ on their part either. In the case of my own 3 children and I can assure you that despite receiving an inordinate amount of interaction, instruction and assistance the eldest is nowhere near as smart as her younger sibling.
That said, if it makes you feel special you can give merit to this article.
Comment by SP on January 27 12:46

Rubbish - I'm 3rd born of 7 and I'm the cleverest in my family - and we were all born within 1yr - 15 months of each other!!! My eldest brother was dyslexic - which wasn't known in the early 50's so the teachers assumed he was stupid - my elder sister is OK - we were on the same footing with reading and writing - but in her teenage years she was very clever at sewing - I was the first in the family to pass the 11+ and go to grammar school, then my brother (4th) passed to the Lyceum - my other brother (5th) was also very very clever - he was put forward for his 11+ aged 10 just to see how he would perform and lo and behold - he passed with flying colours and was one of the youngest to go to Technical College!!! He was left handed and found it tough doing woodwork because the teacher couldn't demonstrate for left-handers!!!! My 4th brother (6th) child was another dud - but that's because mum had died when he was 12 and it affected him - and the youngest (7th)sister was 7 years younger than the 6th and 14 years younger than me - she's done OK - she's the only one still working - we others are all retired!!!!
Comment by Cate on January 27 15:01

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