Children with older brothers and sisters are at risk of impaired growth in early life, a study of thousands of British families has found, while those with several older brothers are most affected.
Medical records show that by the age of 10, such children are already significantly shorter than the average. Those born last appear to grow up in an environment where parents are more stretched for time, money and the ability to lavish attention.
David Lawson, an anthropologist, working at University College London, found that when other socioeconomic factors were taken into account, children's height was strongly dependent on the number of their older siblings.
Scientists had followed children born to nearly 14,000 families in the 1990s. Every year, the children's height and general development was recorded.
In a family of four children, the siblings were 2.5cm shorter than average.The youngest child was most affected. The study found that while having older siblings of either sex affected a younger child's development, the effect of older sisters was more mild. One explanation put was that boys are more demanding, and stretch the resources of parents more so than daughters.
The height of children with younger siblings was also slightly less than average, but the effect was temporary, with children being normal height by age 10.
Lawson urged caution in interpreting the results, which have not yet been published. But if the findings are confirmed, they will add to a growing body of work that suggests younger siblings fare less well in life, often because they have poorer nutrition and do not perform so well at school.
Research by the World Bank in 2001 found that better nourished children performed significantly better at school, partly because they entered school at an earlier age, but, more significantly, because they were more productive in class.
On Wednesday, Lawson told the British Association festival of science in York, England: "All else being equal, growth is significantly retarded by the presence of siblings. Older siblings are associated with relatively higher costs than younger siblings, and in most cases, brothers represent a larger threat to development than sisters."
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS