According to a new study, the oldest child wins out in the brains department. Sorry Jan, not only is Marcia pretty and more popular, she is smarter than you too.

Kudos to Lemon Drop for the story -

As if hand-me-downs and the fact that only three baby pictures of us exist, there’s more bad news for younger siblings: A new study suggests that firstborns may have gotten favored status in the brains department as well.

Tiffany L. Frank, a doctoral candidate at Adelphi University, recently led a study that suggested birth order makes a difference when it comes to brains and personality. Eldest siblings have higher aptitude and overall ranked intelligence, potentially because they received more attention from their parents, earlier. (WE KNEW IT, MOM AND DAD.)

But there’s an upside for younger siblings — the research found that they’re generally more outgoing and competitive, with higher overall GPAs. The reason? In theory, having received assistance from older siblings and a need to compete for parents’ love and attention.

Does this mean our parents have been lying to us every day when they say they love us all “equally”? Do we need to strike our older brothers down in Scrabble to make Dad prouder?

Sigh. Probably. (Dysfunction is 23 points.)