IQ and Birth order Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

IQ and Birth order - Essay Example Inï ¬â€šuence of birth order on the character traits individuals The personality of individuals is affected by among other things their birth order in their families. Conducting a study among 361 siblings from diverse family backgrounds (Melissa.M. 2007) found out that birth order has an influence in the personality traits of an individual in a family. Writing a report on their study findings they concluded that age as a signiï ¬ cant effect on extraversion with younger siblings being more extraverted than the older ones. Closely related to this assertion, are the findings of Ernst and Angst (1983), writing on younger siblings being more extraverted in terms of sociability compared to older siblings. On his part (Sulloway, 1996), alludes that if siblings are to employ their character so as to seek favors from their parents, then parental investment, is increased in extraversion in the younger kids in the family. This in turn leads to competition for attention by the siblings, thus causing siblings rivalry. This amplified extraversion amongst the young siblings protects them from their older siblings hence they are able to assert themselves with much ease. Ahmed M. Al-Khalek and, Richard Lynn (2007) from the University of Kuwait also conducted a study on Intelligence, family size and birth order on about 4643 individuals and also mentioned a correlation between I.Q and the birth order of an individual in their families. Discussing the findings of the study, they realized that children in larger families were more likely to have lower IQs than those from smaller families. However, this finding is in conflict with Zajonc’s con?uence theory and Blake’s dilution theory t hat expects the relationship between family size and intelligence to apply uniformly across all human societies. In addition to this, there was no prove found to support the earlier findings from United States and Europe,that birth order affects the IQ levels of children, where older siblings tend to have higher IQs than the younger ones. It did confirm that there was a positive association between birth order for ages that are below eleven years. Ahmed M. Al-Khalek and, Richard Lynn (2007) also found out there is very minimal effect on an individual’s intelligence and the attention they receive from their parents as whether younger or older than their siblings. Results indicated a very high probability of relationship between family size and intelligence as most intelligent couples had a smaller number of children (Lynn, 1996). It’s also probable that older siblings tend to have relatively lower IQs than their younger siblings, a fact that could be attributed to the a ge of the parents that could also have an effect on their kids. Closely related to this, is the fact that elder mothers are at higher risk of giving birth to babies that have less weight. This condition is often associated with lower intelligent levels. This confirms an earlier assertion by Aliya, Jolly, Ehiri, and Salihu (2005)who confirmed a relationship between later births and the consequent outcomes associated with the