Birth order give no advantage to a child

A new study has dismissed the perception that first-borns are smarter, more competitive and higher achievers.

The study into the benefits of birth order found that while eldest children do exhibit different personality traits to those born later but these disparities are so tiny that they are neglible in any meaningful sense.

Brent Roberts, the University of Illinois psychology professor behind the study, called any differences resulting from birth order "infinitesimally small", equal to a correlation of just 0.02.

"In some cases, if a drug saves 10 out of 10,000 lives, for example, small effects can be profound," he said. "But in terms of personality traits and how you rate them, a 0.02 correlation doesn't get you anything of note. You are not going to be able to see it with the naked eye. You're not going to be able to sit two people down next to each other and see the differences between them. It's not noticeable by anybody."