Young and Dumber

Here's to hoping my parents will placate me by saying I'm just as smart as the oldest.

The eldest children in families tend to develop slightly higher I.Q.s than
their younger siblings, researchers are reporting...
The difference in I.Q. between siblings was a result of family dynamics,
not biological factors like changes in gestation caused by repeated pregnancies,
the study found.

The new findings, which is to appear in the journal Science on Friday, are
based on detailed records from 241,310 Norwegians, including some 64,000 pairs
of brothers, allowing the researchers to carefully compare scores within
families, as well as between families. The study found that eldest children
scored about three points higher on I.Q. tests than their closest sibling.

Does this count for Norwegian-Americans, say, three generations down?

After correcting for factors known to affect scores, including parents’
education level, birth weight and family size, the researchers found that eldest
children scored an average of 103.2, about 3 percent higher than second children
and 4 percent higher than the third-born children.

Who knew my few extra days in the womb would cause this lack of intellect? It was warm in there...

Because gender has little effect on I.Q. scores, the results almost certainly
apply to females as well...

I demand a recount!

Another potential explanation concerns how individual siblings find a niche in
the family. Some studies find that both the older and younger siblings tend to
describe the first-born as more disciplined, responsible, a better student.
Studies suggest — and parents know from experience — that to distinguish
themselves, younger siblings often develop other skills, like social charm, a
good curveball, mastery of the electric bass, acting skills.

“Like Darwin’s finches, they are eking out alternative ways of deriving the maximum benefit out of the environment and not directly competing for the same resources as the eldest,” Dr. Sulloway said. “They are developing diverse interests and expertise that the I.Q. tests do not measure.”

Phew. I mean. I always knew I was unique. Who needs a silly Nobel Prize anyway? My sis can have that.
Anybody want to sponsor a new study for younger siblings?