Studies Show Older Siblings Have Higher IQs Adding Another Reason For Sibling Rivalry!

Attention, first borns! We hate to stir the proverbial sibling rivalry pot, but we just gotta do it. It is now proven from various studies from research groups worldwide that older siblings have a higher IQ than their younger ones. In fact, the University of Oxford that recently released a set of questions that they ask during interviews had this as one of their questions in the subject of Experimental Psychology. Another research conducted by the University of Leipzig last year also came up with the same conclusions. Consolidating the findings from various studies, here are the various reasons that psychologists attribute to this conclusion.

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• The mother’s age when the first child is born could play a role in determining the higher IQ of the child.
• It’s nothing to do with biology but the upbringing of the children at home.
• Another key factor is that older siblings often get to teach a younger sibling certain skills and types of knowledge that benefit their own cognitive skills. According to researcher Julie Rohrer, “Teaching other people has high cognitive demands – the children need to recall their own knowledge, structure it and think of a good way to explain it to younger siblings, which could provide a boost to intelligence for some firstborns.” So younger ones- each time you ask your elder bro to solve a math problem for you- you are actually helping him!
• Elder siblings getting their parents’ complete attention before the younger one arrives is another key factor, according to reports.

These research findings may add some fuel to the prevailing sibling rivalry in your house, but if you are a younger sibling- fret not- research shows that the higher IQ is not by a great margin. It is mostly by just one point!

Image source: thequint.com

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