Twins Have Lower IQs
[quote]The researchers found that twins at age 7 had I.Q.’s an average of 6.6 points lower than those of their singleton brothers and sisters, and that by age 9 their average I.Q. was 6.9 points lower.
Sex, the number of siblings, the mother’s age and the father’s social class did not explain the difference. However, when the researchers adjusted for birth weight and gestational age, the differences in I.Q. were reduced substantially.[/quote]
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/29/health/29twin.html
Stumble it!
and the 529 college savings accounts get a kickback.
June 8th, 2009 22:33
I hate articles like this. Because the results are reported so nonspecifically, it’s totally unclear whether this is an interesting finding or not.
It sounds like they are saying that most of the variance between twin IQs and singleton IQs is accounted for by lower birth weight and premature birth– both known factors in lower IQ, even for singletons. But maybe that isn’t quite what the researchers found– it isn’t clear from the article.
June 8th, 2009 22:44
The reading that I get is that prematurity results in lower IQs. Hardly astonishing. I am mostly amused because of the inflammatory title. “Twin study confirms low birth weights and premature birth factors in lower IQs” is a much less exciting title.
June 8th, 2009 22:46
Also, it would seem a good argument for continuing to work in public health to eliminate prematurity which, in this era, means addressing the huge increase in multiple births (in the US – not in Europe) caused by fertility treatments.
June 9th, 2009 10:31
Nice responsible article title NYT. The real comparison would be twins matched to other prematurity/LBW babies. But of course, that would not be interesting because it’s unlikely to show much difference. Plus, the fact that they were born 50 years ago suggests that they did not have the kind of medical treatment for premature babies that they have now, so it’s unclear if the results would be the same, even without correcting for weight/gestation.
June 10th, 2009 22:04
This stupidity that is paraded as decent science and data — along with the inabiilty of most folks to see what the data really means astounds and depresses me. For the record, 2 of the biggest jerks I know have 2 extremely high IQ’s —but really FU’d lives.