Study Says Eldest Children Have Higher I.Q.s

re: Study Says Eldest Children Have Higher I.Q.s

C Ed Wright — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:31:40 GMT

With all due respect for our beloved Dr. M., I think it's pretty clear he either hadn't had his morning coffee yet before including & commenting on this article, or else switched over to decaf, with obvious consequences.

One of M5's main duties as a primary "agentur" of the "Elders" is to keep the public confused, deluded & manipulated, keeping everyone distracted & divided "by constantly harping on matters of no importance" while "in a position as from time to time may be required, to excite or to tranquilize the public mind on political questions, to persuade or to confuse, printing now truth, now lies, facts or their contradictions, according as they may be well or ill received" etc etc. [character limit, plus (as always,) Time.]

The point here is, whenever M5 introduces new falsehoods they always preface it for purposes of implied credibility with such usually phony statements as "studies show" or "experts say" (sometimes plural, sometimes singular). The first clue they are phony is lack of attribution, i.e., no names whatsoever.

With all due respect to our esteemed veterans, any such 'study' is tainted by what Tom Hanks' in the movie "Stripes" said: [they] "were all stupid enough to enlist in the Army!" (HE said it, not me!) Point being, folks who generally enlist in the army are not who any sensible researcher would study for IQ levels, as opposed to university students, for instance.

In short, this 'study' is absolute nonsense, another M5 "matter of no importance."

re: Study Says Eldest Children Have Higher I.Q.s

Bananna — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 17:45:01 GMT

Okay can I laugh out loud or what. I have 13 children and the IQ goes all over the place and the oldest is definitely not the highest IQ.

I had one start talking at two months and walking at five months and I 'm not talking toddling, I talking walking running climbing whatever, she is just advanced in every way. And that was after being oxygen deprived at birth. Number 13 is highly advanced also though not as coordinated as her sister.

I just think they don't do studies on larger families too often and all they have is child number one and child number two and the first one got all of mom's one on one teaching skills and the second had split attention and the third had to share with two others.

By the time you get to the sixth they have five teachers plus mom. I distinctly see an advantage for younger children in larger families.

re: Study Says Eldest Children Have Higher I.Q.s

saynotoquacks — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 22:15:56 GMT

I'm an only child, and I have a very high IQ (151 according to an online IQ test I took while I was on psychiatric drugs even) in spite of having parents who never went to college. The problem with IQ tests is they don't test for a person's creativity, or conscience, or athletic ability, or common sense, or much of anything, really.

re: Study Says Eldest Children Have Higher I.Q.s

Maid Marian — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 20:57:52 GMT

Wasn't Michael Jackson the youngest and the most talented in his family?

re: Study Says Eldest Children Have Higher I.Q.s

Maid Marian — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 20:56:15 GMT

What about only children?

re: Study Says Eldest Children Have Higher I.Q.s

energetic-balance — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 20:26:23 GMT

This is the most ridiculous thing that I have heard! I know of many families where the youngest has the highest IQ and child in between.

re: Study Says Eldest Children Have Higher I.Q.s

charshan — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 18:08:34 GMT

Hey, all --

I am surprised that Mercola does not mention the idea of nutrient depletion, too. A first child can take a lot of mineral/nutrient stores from a mother and without interpregnancy supplementation, the next or subsequent children have less to draw upon.

Regardless, any child, whether he or she is #8, for instance, is going to be smarter than any firstborn if the mother pays attention to eating and feeding high-quality fats and proteins. Period. Take a look at the Weston A. Price Foundation's posted articles on pregnancy, infant and toddler nutrition. You'll want to go up to any mother you see whose child is nibbling away at the ubiquitous Cheerios -- or, earlier, who is eating the ubiquitous grain cereal as a first food...) and say, "Wait! You should be feeding your child good meat and flax seed oil instead!"

And iodine supplementation is key. The more I research, the more I think we all in this country become deficient by late childhood. Iodine is directly linked to intelligence in children, and I deficiency to ADD (the extreme example of iodine deficiency is retardation or "cretinism").

As always, e-mail me for more info/resources!

Best,

Laura
anderson3424@yahoo.com

re: Study Says Eldest Children Have Higher I.Q.s

The New Christine — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:01:49 GMT

Not that my brother is reading this, but "Ha, ha, told you I was smarter than you!!!!" Ok, now that I got that out of my system, I think it's what others have said, perhaps the fact that the oldest gets the most undivided attention could have something to do with it. :)

re: Study Says Eldest Children Have Higher I.Q.s

jlillge — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:42:39 GMT

This doesn't apply at all to my group of siblings. As the second borne (female) with one older sibling (male), I have far out scored him in tests, passed him up in my life goals, and continue to progress as he continues to regress. I LOVE learning, am nearly thirty, holding a full-time challenging job AND attending college full-time for a double major. And all the while, spending my free moments studying organic living and natural health care. I'm hungry and thirsty to know more and more while my older brother just continues to flounder working gas stations and temp jobs - almost willingly. So either we're a big exception, or this study had some underlying (affecting) variables that weren't considered.

re: Study Says Eldest Children Have Higher I.Q.s

ryree — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:35:46 GMT

This got me thinking about my own kids and I can see why its true. When my daughter was born it was just us. I was her playmate. We had quiet reading time together and lots of one-on-one learning time. With my second child she took over and became the teacher figure during their playtime. Also when you're the second child who wants to sit and listen to boring mom read when you could be having sock fights and jumping on your bed with your sibling. Isn't it true that the older sibling will find ways to break up and distract any time spent between their younger siblings and mother out of jealousy? Also the oldest couldnt wait to get out of the house and away from her annoying siblings. Then when the others move out the youngest now has the whole place and the parents attention all to themselves. Something they never had! No wonder they are in no rush to leave. Also the more children you start having the more fights between kids, the more there is for parents to do and less time to spend with the kids. The last born child probably sees more conflict than the first ever did. That stress could hold them back.

What I find that I see more often is when there are two brothers in a family one is the wild screw up and the other one is down- to -earth and reliable.

re: Study Says Eldest Children Have Higher I.Q.s

Stephanie Seifert — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:02:58 GMT

I would love to see a study like this done among homeschooled children. The whole concept with homeschooling is to get the oldest to be an independent learner so that the parent can focus attention on the younger children while also having the help of the older children if necessary. All of my children will be more than 4.5 years apart in age which would give me plenty of time to spend with each one as a baby and toddler before the next baby comes (I am pregnant now with number 3). I also wonder if IQ is related in any way to a certain personality type. My first and second child have completely different personalities. My oldest is an intovert, is very detailed and loves to read, but my youngest is an extrovert, is very adventurous but is able to solve problems much better than my oldest when he was the same age.

re: Study Says Eldest Children Have Higher I.Q.s

tahoe1780 — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 14:54:26 GMT

I wonder if it has to do with the omega 3 levels available to the fetus? We know they are a major component of the brain and nervous system and are derived from the mother's stores. Siblings spaced too closely together would prohibit replenishment of the omega 3 available. I've read that 'primitive' societies took care to space out pregnancies for the health of the newborns.

re: Study Says Eldest Children Have Higher I.Q.s

dynamicdr1 — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 14:44:48 GMT

I have 7 children, all home-birthed, nursed and home-schooled. There is no difference in IQ or adventuresomeness between them. They all have high I.Q scores, the oldest is on her way to becoming a stunt woman, and the 6th is right behind her. The others are following their passion, from wild animal trainer to the police force to modeling. They have been fed nutritious foods, and given the opportunity to study at their own pace, focusing on subjects of interest. It seems to have made a winning combination.

re: Study Says Eldest Children Have Higher I.Q.s

Mike Smith — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 14:39:48 GMT

I think it has been well accepted that DHA (Omega 3) nutrition for the pregnant mother is important for brain, spine and visual development of the fetus.

What is not so well known is that the capacity of the mother to make DHA from linolenic acid which comes from flax seed, walnuts or spinach is less with each pregnancy. Cold water fish and cod liver oil contain preformed DHA. So I am wondering if supplementing with Cod Liver Oil for the children after number one would help to eliminate the difference. You can read more on this at ^{http://www.birthworks.org/primalhealth/databook.html

Mike Smith}

re: Study Says Eldest Children Have Higher I.Q.s

CLICKHEREx — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 14:24:30 GMT

There is another reason for this. The younger siblings come to realise that they are not only physically inferior, but also less knowledgeable than their older sibling(s), who have been around longer, and have more of an education. This is misinterpreted by the younger ones as meaning that they are less intelligent, resulting in them concentrating on other areas. The lack of maximum effort resulting, causes them to score lower in IQ tests. Even if only for a modest proportion of them to do this, would account for that 3% difference. It may not even be on a conscious level, but the attitude may exist that: "I know I'm dumb, so why bother trying?"