The study also found that night owls' achievements at school was rated lower than that of larks, by about eight percent - possibly because morning school timetables did not create the right conditions for them to learn.
They are most likely to be healthy, wealthy and wise, according to the old adage.
But those who are early to bed and early to rise do not always have the upper hand, researchers say.
They have revealed that night owls are generally brighter and wealthier than those able to get up early in the morning.
Experts from the University of Madrid carried out tests on around 1,000 teenagers and found that those who preferred to stay up late demonstrated the kind of intelligence associated with prestigious jobs and higher incomes.
Larks or ‘morning people’, however, often secured better exam results, possibly because lessons are held at the wrong time of day for night owls.
The researchers examined the habits and body clocks of the youngsters to determine whether they liked to stay up late and sleep in later in the morning, or preferred to go to bed early and were at their peak in the morning.
School performance and inductive intelligence, or problem solving, were measured and academic grades in the major subjects were also taken into account.
The results showed that evening types scored higher than morning types on inductive reasoning, which has been shown to be a good estimate of general intelligence and a strong indicator of academic performance.
They also had a greater capacity to think conceptually as well as analytically. Such abilities have been linked to innovative thinking, more prestigious occupations and better incomes.
Famous night owls include President Obama, Charles Darwin, Winston Churchill, Keith Richards and Elvis Presley.
George W Bush, who is regularly in bed by 10pm, Thomas Edison, Napoleon, Condoleezza Rice, who wakes at 4.30am, and Ernest Hemingway are among those known as larks.
Jim Horne, professor of psychophysiology at Loughborough University, said: ‘Evening types tend to be the more extrovert creative types, the poets, artists and inventors, while the morning types are the deducers, as often seen with civil servants and accountants.’
A previous study of US Air Force recruits found evening types were much better at thinking laterally to solve problems than larks.
老话说，早睡早起使人健康、富裕、聪慧。
但研究者称，那些早睡早起的人并不是总能占上风。
研究人员揭示，夜猫子一般比早起的人更聪明，也更富有。
马德里大学的专家在约1000名青少年当中开展了测试，发现那些喜欢熬夜的青少年表现出与显赫工作和高收入相关的才智。
然而，早起的人通常能取得更好的考试成绩，这可能是因为上课的时间不适合夜猫子。
研究人员观察了这些青少年的习惯和生物钟，以确定他们是喜欢晚睡晚起，还是喜欢早睡早起。
研究人员还衡量了他们的学校表现、归纳或解决问题的能力，主要学科的学习成绩也被考虑在内。
研究结果显示，夜猫子的归纳推理能力得分要高于早起的人，而归纳推理能力已被证明是估测综合智力和学习成绩的一个重要标准。
夜猫子概念性思维能力和分析性思维能力也更强。这些能力都与创新思维、更显赫的职业和更高的收入相关联。
著名的夜猫子包括奥巴马总统、查尔斯•达尔文、温斯顿•丘吉尔、滚石乐队吉他手基斯•理查德和猫王埃尔维斯•普雷斯利。
习惯早起的名人有小布什总统（通常晚上10点前上床睡觉）、托马斯•爱迪生、拿破仑、美国前国务卿康多莉扎•赖斯（早上四点半起床）和欧内斯特•海明威。
拉夫堡大学心理生理学教授吉姆•霍恩说：“夜猫子通常是更外向、更具创造力的人，如诗人、艺术家和发明家，而早起的人则是善于推断的人，多见于公务员和会计师。”
先前的一项对美国空军新兵的研究发现，夜猫子利用横向思维来解决问题的能力比早起的人强得多。