Strict Discipline Helps First-Born Kids do Better in School

First Posted: Oct 23, 2013 11:12 AM EDT
Close

When it comes to finding the right disciplinary approach for your child, new parents may not always be certain what style is best for them.

Yet a new study shows that strict parenting for the first-born will pay off when he or she starts school. A child that undergoes strict parenting will have a higher IQ, do better in school and be perceived as more successful by their parents, linking strict parenting styles to a more academically successful child.

Researchers V. Joseph Hotz, a professor of economics at Duke University, and Juan Pantano, an assistant professor of economics from Washington University in St. Louis, looked at data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979, that includes details regarding women and their children.

Moms provide information that seems consistent with both birth order and academics, showing that first-born children seem to perform the best academically under strict parenting.

"This study stands out because it has the data that others don't have," Frank Sulloway, an adjunct professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkley said, via TODAY, who did not participate in the study.  "What this study actually has is a lot of data about what the mothers and fathers are doing [with their children]."

While many studies have suggested that the first-born child was smarter than ones to follow, research lacked information for why this was so. However, the dilution hypothesis suggests that the second child receives less time and attention from parents that were previously given to the first.

More information regarding the research can be found via Strategic Parenting, Birth Order and School Performance

See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone

©2017 ScienceWorldReport.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The window to the world of science news.

Join the Conversation

Real Time Analytics