We base intelligence on perception, analysis, adaptation to the changing environment, as well as on reasoning, acquiring knowledge and use in everyday life. The IQ indicator helps in its interpretation. This time we will take a closer look at both intelligence and the personality of siblings. Researchers came to extremely interesting conclusions in these areas.
Researchers from the University of Leipzig realized to answer the question: which child is smarter. The results were published in work entitled “Processings of the National Academy of Sciences”.
The following conclusion slipped in: The first -born child has a higher quotient than younger siblings. The IQ tests indicated that the difference is small, because it is 1-2 points, which gives 10% of the standard deviation.
Therefore, it does not translate into everyday life or a professional career. An interesting fact is that Researchers also noticed the so -called the effect of teaching, i.e. the education of younger siblings, therefore older. It is because of this that their intellectual development can be stimulated to a greater extent.
This, in turn, translates into better results in the development of executive functions, which is also confirmed by research from 2025, published in the journal “Frontiers in Education”. They were carried out on 271 children aged 5 to 6 years and their siblings. Not only the order of birth was taken into account, but also the time spent by the screen.
After a year, the researchers came to the conclusion that the first -born children have a better development of cognitive functions than the younger siblings. In turn, the time spent in front of the screen was not significant here.
Scientists have found that a better developed working memory can be associated with staying older children in the company of adults. This promotes richer verbal interactions.
We often stereotypically attribute features to children. However, it turns out that there is no scientific evidence of the personality.
Unlike intelligence, no relationship was observed in the case of personality. The order of birth does not therefore affect the personality traits referred to as “the Big Five”, which includes extraversion, emotional stability, amazing, diligence and openness to experience.
Differences in personality that are noticed between the older and younger child only result from the way of upbringing, family situation, relationships with adults with peers and from school experiences. However, we cannot talk about the order of birth in this case.
