STUDY: Firstborns Are Smarter Than Their Younger Siblings

Besides their privilege to boss around and be the first one to experience everything, a new study says first-born children are smarter than their younger siblings.

According to a study by the University of Edinburgh, eldest child has another advantage over their siblings. It is said to be children who were born first have better thinking skills. They received more mental stimulation during the early stages of their development.

The Study

The researchers used data from the U.S Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. They monitored 5,000 children who aged from pre-birth to 14 years old. Bi-annually, these children were being assessed on their reading, vocabulary assessment and matching letters ability.

After a couple of years, the results show that firstborn children perform better than their younger siblings. One of the possible conclusions this study has is that parents were likely to partake less in mentally developing their younger children. This means that they may not have stimulated the same thorough thinking skills as their older child.

Our results suggests that broad shifts in parental behavior are a plausible explanation for the observed birth order differences in education and labor market outcomes.” – Ana Nuevo-Chiquero, of the University of Edinburgh School of Economics