64
Family Constellation
At any rate, intelligent parents are likely to have intelligent children and unintelligent parents unintelligent children. In spite of that trend, however, there are variations of intelligence among the children of a given sibling configuration. Intelligent parents may have three children, one of whom may be extremely intelligent and the other two barely above average. Unintelligent parents may have three children, one of whom may be a little below average, the other well below, and the third an imbecile. These variations, however, are independent of sibling positions. One cannot claim mat the oldest or the youngest or a middle sibling or the boys or the girls in a sibling configuration are generally more intelligent or less intelligent than the rest. This is also true for all the other characteristics mentioned, that is, for visual acuity, memory, temperament, vitality, etc. These are not associated with particular sibling positions. Within the hereditary limits of a given family, the genetic portion of these characteristics varies by chance. This does not preclude the fact that certain sibling positions appear to be favored in certain respects. For example, more oldest siblings and only children have been found to go to college than persons of other sibling positions. This is particularly true for males (Schachter 1963, Toman and Toman 1970). We cannot conclude from this, however, that oldest siblings or only children are more intelligent Oldest siblings and only children seem to earn better grades than middle and youngest siblings do. Tests of intelligence by special intelligence scales show that there are no typical differences between persons of different sibling positions. On the other hand, if we measure the intelligence of young people whose grade averages are the same, we obtain a contrary result: middle and youngest siblings suddenly appear more intelligent than oldest siblings and only children (see Toman 1973b). Thus, we may say that there are no significant differences in intelligence between persons of different sibling positions, but there are preferences for different social behaviors. Oldest siblings and only children identify more strongly with their parents and teachers than do middle and youngest siblings. They do what their par-