First-Borns Get 3,000 Hours More Attention

Do you think that your birth order in the family has anything to do with how you are treated and how well you do in life? A new study out of Brigham Young University found that first-born children get more education, make more money, and score higher on IQ tests than other children in the same family.

Why does birth order seem to matter? Joe Price is the author of the study. He found that first-born children get about 3,000 more hours of quality time with their parents between the ages of 4 and 13.

Mr. Price said, “We’ve known for a long time that eldest children have better outcomes, and these findings on quality time provide one explanation why.”

According to Mr. Price, parents try to split their attention among all children, but when you look at the time allocations between the 4th and 14th birthdays, the first-borns win by a lot. First-borns pass through these ages when the family has more time to spend with their children.

Mr. Price also found that not only do first-borns get more attention, they also get more quality time. Other children in the family watch more TV with their parents than first-borns.

History seems to bear out Mr. Price’s findings. More than half of U.S. presidents were the oldest in their family, including George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. Nearly half of all U.S. based CEO’s are first borns.

So what is a family supposed to do with this research? Mr. Price suggests that parents should be aware of the effect of birth order and try hard to give younger children more quality time.

Source: BYU News

BLOG QUESTION
Do you agree or disagree with this research?