The eldest children in families tend to develop slightly higher IQs than their younger siblings, researchers were to report Friday, citing a large study that could effectively settle more than a half-century of scientific debate about the relationship between IQ and birth order.

Finally, evidence. Turns out it’s not biology, but the little niches that form within families that make first-borns just a touch sharper. We also tend to be more cautious and duty-bound.

I found myself nodding along with this story and picking out my siblings, going, “Yeah, that’s Mike.” Especially this part:

Another potential explanation concerns how individual siblings find a niche in the family. Some studies find that both the older and younger siblings tend to describe the firstborn as more disciplined, responsible, a better student. Studies suggest - and parents know from experience - that to distinguish themselves, younger siblings often develop other skills, like social charm, a good curveball, mastery of the electric bass, acting skills.

“Like Darwin’s finches, they are eking out alternative ways of deriving the maximum benefit out of the environment, and not directly competing for the same resources as the eldest,” Sulloway said. “They are developing diverse interests and expertise that the IQ tests do not measure.”

This kind of experimentation might explain evidence that younger siblings often live more adventurous lives than eldest siblings. They are more likely to participate in dangerous sports than eldest children, and more likely to travel to exotic places, studies find. They tend to be less conventional in general than firstborns, and some of the most provocative and influential figures in science spent their childhoods in the shadow of an older brother or sister (or two or three or four).

My youngest brother Mike taught himself bass, guitar and drums in about 18 months. My sister Katie, the only girl in the family, pulls down more cash than the other three of us combined cutting hair and will knock your front teeth out if you’re not careful. Nick is the charmer. He has, as our cousin describes it, “the ability to turn a bucket of B.S. into a bucket o’ gold.” I’m just a regular guy in China.

But at least I’ve got ‘em beat on IQ…

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