Resolving the debate over birth order, family size, and intelligence
Resolving the debate over birth order, family size, and intelligence
复制标题
DOI：
10.1037//0003-066x.55.6.599
复制
发表时间：
2000-06-01
影响因子：
16.4
通讯作者：
Rowe, DC
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Rodgers, JL;Cleveland, HH;Rowe, DC
数百篇研究文章探讨了出生顺序与智力之间的关系。事实上，所有这些都使用了横截面数据，这些数据在评估家庭内部（包括出生顺序）过程时存在根本缺陷。尽管家庭内部模型是基于横截面数据的模式，但也存在许多同样合理的家庭间解释。家庭内（最好是完整家庭）数据是区分家庭内和家庭间因果过程的先决条件。这一观察结果以一种可以通过研究图形模式轻松解决的方式重新构建了一个老问题。对全国青少年纵向调查的兄弟姐妹数据进行了评估，并将结果与其他使用家庭内部数据的研究的结果进行了比较。看来，虽然低智商的父母一直在组建大家庭，但在现代美国社会，大家庭并不会培养出低智商的孩子。出生顺序和智力之间的明显关系一直是一种方法论上的错觉。
Hundreds of research articles have addressed the relationship between birth order and intelligence. Virtually all have used cross-sectional data, which are fundamentally flawed in the assessment of within-family (including birth order) processes. Although within-family models have been based on patterns in cross-sectional data, a number of equally plausible between-family explanations also exist. Within-family (preferably intact-family) data are prerequisite for separating within- and between-family causal processes. This observation reframes an old issue in a way that can be easily addressed by studying graphical patterns. Sibling data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth are evaluated, and the results are compared with those from other studies using within-family data. It appears that although low-IQ parents have been making large families, large families do not make low-IQ children in modern U.S. society. The apparent relation between birth order and intelligence has been a methodological illusion.