Birth order has no effect on your personality or IQ

Washington DC: A new study has demonstrated that that birth order has no meaningful effect on personality or IQ.

The study conducted at University of Illinois suggested that first-borns enjoy a one-IQ-point advantage over later-borns, difference is statistically significant but meaningless.

It was always said that first-borns do have higher IQs and consistently different personality traits than those born later in the family chronology.

The analysis also revealed consistent differences in personality traits between first-borns and later-borns - first-borns tended to be more extroverted, agreeable and conscientious, and had less anxiety than later-borns.

Professor Brent Roberts, who led the analysis with postdoctoral researcher Rodica Damian claimed that the study controlled for potentially confounding factors such as a family's economic status, the number of children and the relative age of the siblings at the time of the analysis that might skew the results.

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.

The study is published by the Journal of Research in Personality.