Effect of Head Position at Birth on WISC Verbal and Performance IQ

Abstract

To test the hypothesis that head position at birth is related to superiority of WISC Verbal (V) or Performance (P) IQ, head position at birth was determined for 212 Ss, including 95 sets of siblings. Children who were born Occiput Left (OL), that is, where the head was situated with the occiput in the left half of the maternal pelvis during delivery, were compared to children born Occiput Right (OR) for differences in WISC IQv and IQp. The results indicated that children born OR had a significantly lower IQv than IQp, but the OLs did not display such a significant difference. When same-sexed sibs were compared, it was found that the OR sib more frequently had higher IQp and lower IQv than his OL mate. No clear relationship was demonstrated for opposite-sexed sibling sets.