按照兄弟姐妹的出生順序,誰會是贏家?到底是面臨壓力但成功的年長子女,還是自由奔放但被忽視的年幼子女,多年來人們對此一直爭論不休,甚至讓心理學(xué)創(chuàng)始人西格蒙德·弗洛伊德(長子)和作為中間孩子的同事阿爾弗雷德·阿德勒之間產(chǎn)生了分歧。但在職場成功方面,數(shù)據(jù)毋庸置疑:年長的子女更有優(yōu)勢。
大量研究顯示,一般而言,年長子女的智商略高于年幼的兄弟姐妹,學(xué)習(xí)成績更好,并且在成年后通常收入更高。CareerBuilder的一項調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn),年長子女更有可能獲得六位數(shù)薪酬,而經(jīng)常被忽視的中間子女則最有可能從事薪資不超過35,000美元的初級崗位。
在美國國家經(jīng)濟研究局(NBER)的一份工作文件中,一項最新研究分析了年長子女和其他兄弟姐妹之間持續(xù)存在較小薪酬差距的原因。這并不是因為父母更愛其中某一個孩子,而是與孩子生病的頻率以及兄弟姐們對此的影響程度有關(guān)。
健康經(jīng)濟學(xué)家們通過研究丹麥1981年至2017年出生的所有頭胎和二胎孩子,找出了一個對兄弟姐妹中年齡更小的孩子影響更大的因素:疾病。
當然,任何父母都知道孩子們經(jīng)常生病。但是,健康經(jīng)濟學(xué)家N·梅爾泰姆·戴薩爾、丁輝(音譯)、瑪雅·羅辛-斯萊特和漢尼斯·施萬特的報告發(fā)現(xiàn),一個人在兄弟姐妹中的排行,對其對細菌的敏感性有很大影響。在出生后至關(guān)重要的前幾個月,二胎子女往往比頭胎更有可能住院。
斯坦福大學(xué)健康政策與經(jīng)濟系副教授羅辛-斯萊特對《財富》雜志表示:“在出生后的第一年,二胎子女因為呼吸道疾病住院的概率比頭胎高2至3倍?!彼硎?,這在二胎出生后的前三個月尤其明顯,而“在一歲之后,這種差異基本會消失。”
西北大學(xué)人類發(fā)展與社會政策副教授、報告的另外一位作者施萬特對《財富》雜志稱,“出現(xiàn)這種情況很合理,但頭胎和二胎之間的差異之大令人震驚。”
丹麥慷慨的社會保障制度使研究人員可以找出兄弟姐妹之間的差異。在丹麥,父母通常有一年帶薪休假時間,之后孩子們開始上公立學(xué)前班。因此,頭胎出生后的第一年是在家和父母一起度過,與外界接觸有限,而二胎出生后的第一年則是生活在有哥哥姐姐四處走動的環(huán)境中。
研究人員還發(fā)現(xiàn),秋冬季節(jié)出生的孩子和年齡更接近的兄弟姐妹更有可能生病。
幼年生病的風(fēng)險更高,意味著未來的收入更少。羅辛-斯萊特對《財富》雜志表示,更容易生病的二胎“在25到32歲時的收入更低。他們并不是[更不]可能工作,他們只是在所從事的工作中收入更低?!?/p>
施萬特表示,對于美國的孩子和他們的父母來說,這種影響甚至更加明顯。相比丹麥人,美國人缺乏基本的醫(yī)療保健,而且美國沒有全國育兒假——最幸運的職場父母最多只能有幾個月假期。施萬特表示:“由于育兒假很短,因此人們很早甚至在孩子一兩個月大的時候,就把孩子送去日托。對于這些孩子來說,疾病的影響只會更大?!?/p>
對于恐慌的家長們來說,好消息是差異很小。最容易生病和最健康的孩子的收入只相差不到1%。(按照目前具有代表性的薪酬水平,相當于年長子女的年薪為59,400美元,而弟弟的薪酬是58,271美元。)智商也是一樣——雖然平均而言,年長子女的平均分數(shù)更高,但差異僅為2或3分。事實上,施萬特解釋說,雖然統(tǒng)計學(xué)家們通過數(shù)十年來對數(shù)百萬兒童的觀察,可以梳理出一段時間內(nèi)的平均模式,但平均數(shù)對于預(yù)測特定個人在生活中的成功并沒有太大意義。羅辛-斯萊特表示,她希望這項研究能夠指導(dǎo)公共衛(wèi)生政策——比如確保年輕父母給孩子接種疫苗并享有育兒假。
他們表示,畢竟,金錢并不是萬能的。
羅辛-斯萊特說道:“當我們說年長的孩子更有優(yōu)勢時,我們所說的結(jié)果范圍較小,僅限于收入和教育。還有其他衡量幸福、快樂和生活滿意度的指標,我們根本沒有涉及?!保ㄘ敻恢形木W(wǎng))
翻譯:劉進龍
審校:汪皓
按照兄弟姐妹的出生順序,誰會是贏家?到底是面臨壓力但成功的年長子女,還是自由奔放但被忽視的年幼子女,多年來人們對此一直爭論不休,甚至讓心理學(xué)創(chuàng)始人西格蒙德·弗洛伊德(長子)和作為中間孩子的同事阿爾弗雷德·阿德勒之間產(chǎn)生了分歧。但在職場成功方面,數(shù)據(jù)毋庸置疑:年長的子女更有優(yōu)勢。
大量研究顯示,一般而言,年長子女的智商略高于年幼的兄弟姐妹,學(xué)習(xí)成績更好,并且在成年后通常收入更高。CareerBuilder的一項調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn),年長子女更有可能獲得六位數(shù)薪酬,而經(jīng)常被忽視的中間子女則最有可能從事薪資不超過35,000美元的初級崗位。
在美國國家經(jīng)濟研究局(NBER)的一份工作文件中,一項最新研究分析了年長子女和其他兄弟姐妹之間持續(xù)存在較小薪酬差距的原因。這并不是因為父母更愛其中某一個孩子,而是與孩子生病的頻率以及兄弟姐們對此的影響程度有關(guān)。
健康經(jīng)濟學(xué)家們通過研究丹麥1981年至2017年出生的所有頭胎和二胎孩子,找出了一個對兄弟姐妹中年齡更小的孩子影響更大的因素:疾病。
當然,任何父母都知道孩子們經(jīng)常生病。但是,健康經(jīng)濟學(xué)家N·梅爾泰姆·戴薩爾、丁輝(音譯)、瑪雅·羅辛-斯萊特和漢尼斯·施萬特的報告發(fā)現(xiàn),一個人在兄弟姐妹中的排行,對其對細菌的敏感性有很大影響。在出生后至關(guān)重要的前幾個月,二胎子女往往比頭胎更有可能住院。
斯坦福大學(xué)健康政策與經(jīng)濟系副教授羅辛-斯萊特對《財富》雜志表示:“在出生后的第一年,二胎子女因為呼吸道疾病住院的概率比頭胎高2至3倍?!彼硎荆@在二胎出生后的前三個月尤其明顯,而“在一歲之后,這種差異基本會消失。”
西北大學(xué)人類發(fā)展與社會政策副教授、報告的另外一位作者施萬特對《財富》雜志稱,“出現(xiàn)這種情況很合理,但頭胎和二胎之間的差異之大令人震驚?!?/p>
丹麥慷慨的社會保障制度使研究人員可以找出兄弟姐妹之間的差異。在丹麥,父母通常有一年帶薪休假時間,之后孩子們開始上公立學(xué)前班。因此,頭胎出生后的第一年是在家和父母一起度過,與外界接觸有限,而二胎出生后的第一年則是生活在有哥哥姐姐四處走動的環(huán)境中。
研究人員還發(fā)現(xiàn),秋冬季節(jié)出生的孩子和年齡更接近的兄弟姐妹更有可能生病。
幼年生病的風(fēng)險更高,意味著未來的收入更少。羅辛-斯萊特對《財富》雜志表示,更容易生病的二胎“在25到32歲時的收入更低。他們并不是[更不]可能工作,他們只是在所從事的工作中收入更低?!?/p>
施萬特表示,對于美國的孩子和他們的父母來說,這種影響甚至更加明顯。相比丹麥人,美國人缺乏基本的醫(yī)療保健,而且美國沒有全國育兒假——最幸運的職場父母最多只能有幾個月假期。施萬特表示:“由于育兒假很短,因此人們很早甚至在孩子一兩個月大的時候,就把孩子送去日托。對于這些孩子來說,疾病的影響只會更大。”
對于恐慌的家長們來說,好消息是差異很小。最容易生病和最健康的孩子的收入只相差不到1%。(按照目前具有代表性的薪酬水平,相當于年長子女的年薪為59,400美元,而弟弟的薪酬是58,271美元。)智商也是一樣——雖然平均而言,年長子女的平均分數(shù)更高,但差異僅為2或3分。事實上,施萬特解釋說,雖然統(tǒng)計學(xué)家們通過數(shù)十年來對數(shù)百萬兒童的觀察,可以梳理出一段時間內(nèi)的平均模式,但平均數(shù)對于預(yù)測特定個人在生活中的成功并沒有太大意義。羅辛-斯萊特表示,她希望這項研究能夠指導(dǎo)公共衛(wèi)生政策——比如確保年輕父母給孩子接種疫苗并享有育兒假。
他們表示,畢竟,金錢并不是萬能的。
羅辛-斯萊特說道:“當我們說年長的孩子更有優(yōu)勢時,我們所說的結(jié)果范圍較小,僅限于收入和教育。還有其他衡量幸福、快樂和生活滿意度的指標,我們根本沒有涉及?!保ㄘ敻恢形木W(wǎng))
翻譯:劉進龍
審校:汪皓
In sibling birth order, who’s the winner? The debate between pressured-but-successful older children or free-spirited but overlooked younger siblings has consumed many over the years, even leading to the rift between psychology founder Sigmund Freud (a firstborn child) and his middle-child colleague Alfred Adler. When it comes to corporate success, though, the data is unquestioned: Older children have it made.
Older kids, on average, have slightly higher IQs than their younger siblings, do better in school, and tend to earn more money as adults, as abundant research has shown. A CareerBuilder survey found that older children were more likely to achieve six-figure salaries, while the oft-overlooked middle children are most likely to be in entry-level jobs earning $35,000 or less.
Now, new research in an NBER working paper has proposed a reason for the small but persistent pay gaps between the first and the rest. It’s not because parents love one child more than the other—rather, it has to do with how frequently kids fall ill, and how much siblings can influence that.
By looking at all first and second children born in Denmark between 1981 and 2017, health economists have isolated one factor that affects youngsters more than their siblings: Sickness.
Of course, any parent can confirm that kids get sick all the time. But where you fall in the line of succession makes a big difference on your susceptibility to germs, finds the paper from health economists N. Meltem Daysal, Hui Ding, Maya Rossin-Slater and Hannes Schwandt. And in the critical first months of life, second siblings are much more likely to end up in the hospital than older peers.
“In the first year of life, second-born children have 2 to 3 times higher likelihoods for being hospitalized for a respiratory condition,” Rossin-Slater, an associate professor in the health policy and economics departments at Stanford University, told Fortune. It’s especially visible in the first three months of a second child’s life, and “the difference basically disappears after age one,” she said.
“It made sense but was shocking to look at how big the differences are” between first and second kids, coauthor Schwandt, associate professor of Human Development and Social Policy at Northwestern University, told Fortune.
Denmark’s generous social safety net allowed the researchers to pinpoint the differences between siblings. In Denmark, parents typically have one year of paid leave, after which time kids start public preschool. So, while the firstborn child spends their first year at home with the parents and has limited contact with the outside world, the second sibling’s first year is marked by an older sister or brother coming and going from an environment with many other kids.
The researchers also found that kids are more prone to sickness if they’re born in the fall and winter months, as well as when the younger and older sibling are closer in age.
That higher risk of sickness early in life translates to less money down the road. Those sicker second kids, “when they’re between ages 25 and 32, they have lower incomes. They’re not [less] likely to work, they just earn less in the jobs that they do have,” Rossin-Slater told Fortune.
For kids and their parents in the U.S., Schwandt said, the effects could be even more pronounced. More Americans than Danes lack basic health care access, and the U.S. has no national parental leave—the most privileged working parents can expect a few months at most. “Because parental leave is so short, people sometimes put their kids into daycare very early, even at two months or one month,” Schwandt said. “The effect for diseases for those kids will be only bigger, if anything.”
The good news for panicked parents, though, is the differences are small. The sickest and healthiest kids are separated by just under 1% of income. (At today’s typical pay levels, that’s like an older sibling earning $59,400 a year while their kid brother brings home $58,271.) Same goes for IQ — while older kids, on average, have higher scores, the difference amounts to just 2 or 3 points. In fact, Schwandt explained, while statisticians looking at millions of kids over several decades can tease out average patterns over time, averages don’t mean much for predicting a particular individual’s success in life. Rossin-Slater said she hopes this research can guide public-health policy—such as ensuring young parents vaccinate their kids and have access to parental leave.
And after all, they say, money isn’t everything.
“It’s a pretty narrow set of outcomes we’re talking about when we say firstborns have an advantage–income and education,” Rossin-Slater said. “There’s a whole other set of measures of wellbeing, happiness and life satisfaction, that we’re not even touching on.”