There was an interesting article in yesterday's Daily Mail. Sheffield University researchers have shown that having an elder brother can affect the fertility of a younger brother or sister, which may reduce their ability to have a family of their own.
The theory centres around the belief that a first child takes away so much out of a woman during pregnancy that it may affect subsequent children in the womb. The study showed that having an older sister reduces the chances of a sibling having kids to 67%, whilst an older brother reduces it to 62%.
As reported in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour, younger siblings also tend to have children later in life and with large gaps between them, which it claims has a biological basis. Cultural aspects, such as an older child standing to inherit a family business, are apparently not contibuting factors.
If anyone needs a genealogical project, trying to corroborate the above could be fun!
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
Professional family history research & genealogical problem solving
I think all you have to do is look at the Osmond family to see that there's at least an exception to every rule, if not totally disproving the theory! ;-)
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