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Explaining the Relation Between Birth Order and Intelligence

Petter Kristensen [email protected] and Tor BjerkedalAuthors Info & Affiliations
Science
22 Jun 2007
Vol 316, Issue 5832
p. 1717
DOI: 10.1126/science.1141493
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Abstract

Negative associations between birth order and intelligence level have been found in numerous studies. The explanation for this relation is not clear, and several hypotheses have been suggested. One family of hypotheses suggests that the relation is due to more-favorable family interaction and stimulation of low-birth-order children, whereas others claim that the effect is caused by prenatal gestational factors. We show that intelligence quotient (IQ) score levels among nearly 250,000 military conscripts were dependent on social rank in the family and not on birth order as such, providing support for a family interaction explanation.

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Supplementary Material

File (kristensen.som.pdf)

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Materials and methods are available as supporting material on Science Online.
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This study is part of a project funded by the Research Council of Norway (grant no. 161321/V50).
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Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Science
Volume 316 | Issue 5832
22 June 2007

Copyright

American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Submission history

Received: 20 February 2007
Accepted: 30 April 2007
Published in print: 22 June 2007

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Notes

Supporting Online Material
www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/316/5832/1717/DC1
Materials and Methods
SOM Text
Table S1
References

Authors

Affiliations

Petter Kristensen* [email protected]
National Institute of Occupational Health, N-0033 Oslo, Norway.
Section for Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, University of Oslo, N-0318 Oslo, Norway.
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Tor Bjerkedal
Institute of Epidemiology, Norwegian Armed Forces Medical Services, N-0015 Oslo, Norway.
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Notes

*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: [email protected]

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  • Petter Kristensen,
  • Tor Bjerkedal
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Explaining the Relation Between Birth Order and Intelligence.Science316,1717-1717(2007).DOI:10.1126/science.1141493

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