Higher IQ Adopted children often smarter

Higher IQ: Adopted children are smarter

03/26/2015

Scientists in the US have found in an investigation that adopted children have a higher IQ than their siblings who grew up with the biological parents. The reason for this seems to be the higher level of education of the adoptive parents.

Adopted children have higher IQ
As a study by the University of Virginia shows, adopt children have a slightly higher IQ than their siblings, who grew up with the biological parents. Like the news agency „Press Release“ reported, the difference is about four IQ points. The scientists explain this difference with the higher average level of education of the adoptive parents.„The higher the education of the adoptive parents, the greater the benefit for the child“, explained Eric Turkheimer, co-author of the study. „An improved environment helps the development of cognitive skills.“ According to the analysis, the analysis was based on the results of the IQ test that every male person in Sweden has to undergo in military service.

400 male sibling pairs examined
400 couples of male siblings were examined, of which one brother remained with the biological parents and one brother was adopted. The average IQ of adopted children was said to be just over 97, more than four points higher than their siblings' IQ, which grew up in the household of biological parents. Marinus van Uzendoorn, professor at the Institute for Children and Family Studies at Leiden University, commented: „An increase of four IQ points is significant and substantial.“ In his own research, he has compared the IQ of children adopted from orphanages with those remaining in the orphanage. The expert found that, depending on the quality of the orphanage, the IQ benefit of adopted children was sometimes exorbitant. „Our study shows that adopted children from poor orphanages have an IQ increase of 15 and more over those who are left behind in the orphanage“, so Uzendoorn.

Smarter thanks to the higher level of education
The researchers found that when comparing the level of education between biological and adoptive parents that the latter had about 30 percent more education than the biological parents. An observation of the scientists shows that the increase in IQ depends in particular on the educational level of the environment. „We had some brothers who were adopted by adoptive parents with lower education than their biological parents. Her IQ fell back to her brothers“, Uzendoorn explained. A higher level of education leads to a richer home environment. So books and magazines are important to promote reading comprehension. According to the researchers, a more stimulating climate also includes visits to museums and, of course, parents' ability to provide more support, for example with homework. Interesting insights into the promotion of intelligence have recently been gained in a brazilian study. Scientists at the University of Pelotas discovered that breastfeeding makes people intelligent and well-to-do. Thus, a person who was breastfed as a baby for at least one year on average put on four IQ points. (Ad)