Siblings Performances Given by Birth Order

First-borns are generally smarter and younger siblings are more outgoing and get better grades, as birth order seems to have an impact on children's personality and intelligence, a new study suggests.

Many previous studies treated the matter of children's personalities depending on birth order but apparently there were still conclusions to be drawn, LiveScience reports.

This new research supported some of the previous ideas, like the one that says that the eldest sibling has higher aptitudes but also contradicted a few, like the extroverted character of first-born children.

The study first surveyed 90 pairs of siblings in high school, that were asked to report their grades and compare themselves with their siblings in intelligence, academic performance and work ethic, data verified by the researchers through academic tests scores and grades.

This experiment showed that first-borns received higher tests scores in math and verbal ability, whereas later born children had better grade point averages in English and math.

A second experiment analyzed the differences in personality of 76 pairs of siblings in high school, that rated themselves on personality-revealing statements and found that younger siblings were more extroverted, forgiving, sentimental and open to new experiences, while first-borns tended to be more perfectionists.

There are some logical explanations to these differences, like for example higher intelligence in first-borns is due to the fact that for while they had their parents' entire attention.

Also, younger siblings have better grades because they were mentored by first-borns and they might feel more competitive hoping to gain extra attention from the parents.

Anyway, these findings clear up more questions concerning the influence of sibling relationships, that are usually less analyzed than mother-child or father-child ones, according to study leader Tiffany L. Frank, a doctoral candidate at Adelphi University in Long Island, New York.

Frank worked with Hannah Turenshine and Stephen J. Sullivan of Lawrence High School in Cedarhurst, New York, and she stated at the 118th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, that it is almost impossible for parents to treat their children equally.