A study reveals who, the eldest or the youngest, is more intelligent (the result will surprise you)

It’s a study which puts an end to the eternal debate of: “who is more intelligent between the eldest and the youngest?”. Psychologist Julia Rohrer, a professor at the University of Leipzig in Germany, published a report showing that birth order among siblings could have an impact on children’s intellectual abilities. Even if this report does not serve as a general truth, it demonstrates that the majority of siblings follow the same pattern.

To carry out this study, the researchers based themselves on several criteria such as intelligence, extroversion, emotional stability, conscientiousness, agreeableness and even openness to experience. Among these personality traits, the psychologist noted that the criterion of intelligence was the one that stood out the most in the statistics. Indeed, it turned out that tests carried out on siblings showed that the eldest had a 52% chance of having a higher IQ than his brothers and sisters.

Who is more intelligent, the eldest or the youngest?

According to experts, an elder has a higher IQ than his younger brother in 6 out of 10 cases. But how can this be explained? According to psychologist Julia Rohrer, this is because the older child has more life experience than his brothers and sisters. She explains for the American media The Guardian that a child’s personality and consciousness evolve with age, it is therefore natural for the oldest to be more advanced than the rest of the siblings.

During her analysis, the specialist also mentions the fact that the eldest is more likely to be higher intellectually thanks to the role of “teacher” that he can occupy within the family. For this, it relies on a previous study conducted by two professors teaching at a university in Michigan. The latter justify the higher intellect of the elders by the fact that the latter lend themselves to the game of “teacher” unlike the younger who occupies the place of the student. This unconscious hierarchy thus makes it possible to further stimulate the brains of older children. Delegating many tasks to the eldest under the pretext that he is “the biggest” allows him to acquire autonomy and a sense of responsibility more quickly than his brothers and sisters who are often entrusted to the good care of someone. ‘one older than them. The fact of giving missions, of ordering the management of domestic tasks to the older one allows us to acquire maturity and a sharper seriousness.

And the youngest in all this?

If the eldest seems to represent seriousness and maturity within a sibling, the youngest is much more independent than his brothers and sisters. Indeed, he is often renowned for being the calmest and most pacifist child. The fact that attention is often centralized on the older ones forces him at times to withdraw and show independence. He is thus more capable of handling rejection and closing himself in his bubble. The younger child is therefore often destined to evolve on his own, in the shadow of his brothers and sisters.

If this independence is more pronounced in the youngest and youngest, it is because the parents are no longer discovering parenthood and are therefore less on the lookout in terms of education than for the first child. There is this idea that subsequent children are in good hands because the eldest can contribute to household chores in addition to the parents. This generates much less stress for parents. The fact that they also have less time to devote to young children forces the youngest and youngest to fend for themselves and evolve in an environment where they are not the exclusive one.