Birth Order Has No Meaningful Effect on Personality, IQ, says Study

In one of the biggest research initiatives of its kind, researchers from University of Illinois-Champaign have found that the order of birth does not statically bear any impact on the person's intellect or personality.

The researchers analysed the data of 377,000 high school students and discovered that first borns had a one point IQ advantage over their younger siblings.

While this may appear statistically significant, the researchers feel the difference is meaningless.

Lead author of the study Brent Roberts also looked to study the impact birth order might have on personality traits. On one hand while first born's tended to be more extroverted and conscientious, Roberts said the difference was 'infinitesimally small' at a correlation of 0.02.

"In some cases, if a drug saves 10 out of 10,000 lives, for example, small effects can be profound," Roberts said. "But in terms of personality traits and how you rate them, a 0.02 correlation doesn't get you anything of note. You are not going to be able to see it with the naked eye. You're not going to be able to sit two people down next to each other and see the differences between them. It's not noticeable by anybody."

"The message of this study is that birth order probably should not influence your parenting, because it's not meaningfully related to your kid's personality or IQ," postdoctoral researcher Rodica Damon, now a professor of psychology at the University of Houston, said in a news release.